Marine Vehicle Models

A collection of C++ libraries implementing dynamic models for marine vehicles.

Surface Vehicle Model

The SurfaceVehicleModel library implements a 3-DOF planar dynamic model of a surface vehicle propelled by two thrusters (differential-drive / twin-screw configuration), expressed in N.E.D. (North–East–Down) coordinates.

Key Features

• 3-DOF (surge, sway, yaw) dynamic modeling.
• Thruster force computation, including positive/negative quadrant models and RPM dynamics.
• Coriolis and drag force computation.
• Direct dynamics (acceleration from thruster commands) and inverse thruster allocation.
• Parameter configuration via libconfig.

Prerequisites

• Eigen (linear algebra)
• libconfig (configuration management)
• RML Library
• ctrl_toolbox

Building the Library

cd marine_vehicle_models/surface_vehicle_model
mkdir build && cd build
cmake ..
make
sudo make install

Configuration File

The library reads vehicle parameters from a libconfig file (see conf/ulisse_model.conf for a complete example). Key parameters include inertia, thruster geometry, thruster force coefficients, and RPM dynamics coefficients.

---

ROV Model

The Rov library implements a 6-DOF dynamic model of a tethered ROV (e.g. BlueROV), based on the Newton–Euler formulation. It supports both standard and heavy thruster configurations and optionally models the dynamics of the tether cable.

Key Features

• 6-DOF dynamic modeling (surge, sway, heave, roll, pitch, yaw).
• Mass matrix, Coriolis matrix, damping matrix, and restoring forces.
• Thruster allocation supporting 6-thruster (standard) and 8-thruster (heavy) configurations.
• Tether cable force computation and cable-winch dynamics.
• Parameter configuration via libconfig.

Prerequisites

• Eigen (linear algebra)
• libconfig (configuration management)
• RML Library
• ctrl_toolbox

Building the Library

cd marine_vehicle_models/rov_model
mkdir build && cd build
cmake ..
make
sudo make install

Configuration File

The library reads vehicle parameters from a libconfig file (see conf/blueROV.conf for a complete example). Key parameters include mass and buoyancy properties, added mass, damping coefficients, thruster allocation matrix, and cable/winch parameters.

---

Underwater Vehicle Model

The UnderwaterVehicleModel library provides a comprehensive implementation of 6-DOF underwater vehicle dynamics, based on Fossen's dynamic model. It supports AUV and ROV configurations.

See the underwater_vehicle_model README for full documentation including installation instructions, API overview, and configuration file format.

---

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.