| Summary: | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1997. Engineering and Applied Science Bibliography: leaves 193-196 The goal of this PhD project was to design and develop a small inexpensive subsea robot with a micro computer based intelligent control system. The robot developed is called NOMAD. It could be the key element in a Distributed Marine Observation System(DMOS). Most Engineering PhDs are research oriented; this one has a design focus. -- NOMAD uses an air/water ballast tank instead of a battery/motor system to drive itself vertically. To facilitate mission requirements, great efforts were made to develop a high performance onboard micro computer based control system. To deal with the uncertainty and nonlinearity of the robot model, investigations were conducted to check the potential of strategies based on Neural Networks and Fuzzy Logic. A Real Time Kernel software and an onboard micro computer with a Z180 CPU were used to implement a Fuzzy Variable Structure Switching (FVSS) control scheme and a multiple-task, multiple-layered control structure. -- The design and development process for NOMAD are detailed in this thesis. The results of digital simulation, theoretical analysis and typical data recorded from tests in a deep water tank on the robot are presented. Successful tests and good agreement between data and analysis indicate great potential for industrial application of the technologies developed in this project.
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