Miquel Massot-Campos

Design and Control of a Modular Multilevel DC/DC Converter for Regenerative Applications

This paper compares different cascaded and multilevel topologies to interface supercapacitors to a dc bus in regenerative braking applications. It is shown that the modular multilevel dc/dc converter (MMC) can benefit from both reduced voltage and increased frequency across the inductor to reduce its weight and volume when using phase shifting modulation. The proposed control method is able to balance supercapacitor voltage while providing precise output current control. The converter topology and control method are validated with simulations and experimental results.

A Control Technique for Integration of DG Units to the Electrical Networks

This paper deals with a multiobjective control technique for integration of distributed generation (DG) resources to the electrical power network. The proposed strategy provides compensation for active, reactive, and harmonic load current components during connection of DG link to the grid. The dynamic model of the proposed system is first elaborated in the stationary reference frame and then transformed into the synchronous orthogonal reference frame. The transformed variables are used in control of the voltage source converter as the heart of the interfacing system between DG resources and utility grid. By setting an appropriate compensation current references from the sensed load currents in control circuit loop of DG, the active, reactive, and harmonic load current components will be compensated with fast dynamic response, thereby achieving sinusoidal grid currents in phase with load voltages, while required power of the load is more than the maximum injected power of the DG to the grid. In addition, the proposed control method of this paper does not need a phase-locked loop in control circuit and has fast dynamic response in providing active and reactive power components of the grid-connected loads. The effectiveness of the proposed control technique in DG application is demonstrated with injection of maximum available power from the DG to the grid, increased power factor of the utility grid, and reduced total harmonic distortion of grid current through simulation and experimental results under steady-state and dynamic operating conditions.

I-AUV docking and intervention in a subsea panel

While commercially available autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are routinely used in survey missions, a new set of applications exist which clearly demand intervention capabilities: the maintenance of permanent underwater structures as well as the recovery of benthic stations or black-boxes are a few of them. These tasks are addressed nowadays using manned submersibles or work-class remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), equipped with teleoperated arms under human supervision. In the context of the TRITON Spanish funded project, a subsea panel docking and an intervention procedure are proposed. The light-weight intervention AUV (I-AUV) Girona 500 is used to autonomously dock into a subsea panel using a funnel-based docking method for passive accommodation. Once docked, an autonomous fixed-based manipulation system, which uses feedback from a digital camera, is used to turn a valve and plug/unplug a connector. The paper presents the techniques used for the autonomous docking and manipulation as well as how the adapted subsea panel has been designed to facilitate such operations.

Optical Sensors and Methods for Underwater 3D Reconstruction

This paper presents a survey on optical sensors and methods for 3D reconstruction in underwater environments. The techniques to obtain range data have been listed and explained, together with the different sensor hardware that makes them possible. The literature has been reviewed, and a classification has been proposed for the existing solutions. New developments, commercial solutions and previous reviews in this topic have also been gathered and considered.

Underwater Laser-based Structured Light System for one-shot 3D reconstruction

A Laser-based Structured Light System (LbSLS) has been designed to perform underwater close-range 3D reconstructions even with high turbidity conditions and outperform conventional systems. The system uses a camera and a 532 nm green laser projector. The optical technique used is based on the projection of a pattern obtained placing a Diffractive Optical Element (DOE) in front of the laser beam. In the experiments described in this manuscript, the DOE used diffracts the laser beam in 25 parallel lines providing enough information in a single camera frame to perform a 3D reconstruction.

Tectonic structure, evolution, and the nature of oceanic core complexes and their detachment fault zones (13°20'N and 13°30'N, Mid-Atlantic Ridge)

Microbathymetry data, in situ observations, and sampling along the 138200N and 138200N oceanic core complexes (OCCs) reveal mechanisms of detachment fault denudation at the seafloor, links between tectonic extension and mass wasting, and expose the nature of corrugations, ubiquitous at OCCs. In the initial stages of detachment faulting and high-angle fault, scarps show extensive mass wasting that reduces their slope. Flexural rotation further lowers scarp slope, hinders mass wasting, resulting in morphologically complex chaotic terrain between the breakaway and the denuded corrugated surface. Extension and drag along the fault plane uplifts a wedge of hangingwall material (apron). The detachment surface emerges along a continuous moat that sheds rocks and covers it with unconsolidated rubble, while local slumping emplaces rubble ridges overlying corrugations. The detachment fault zone is a set of anostomosed slip planes, elongated in the alongextension direction. Slip planes bind fault rock bodies defining the corrugations observed in microbathymetry and sonar. Fault planes with extension-parallel stria are exposed along corrugation flanks, where the rubble cover is shed. Detachment fault rocks are primarily basalt fault breccia at 138200N OCC, and gabbro and peridotite at 138300N, demonstrating that brittle strain localization in shallow lithosphere form corrugations, regardless of lithologies in the detachment zone. Finally, faulting and volcanism dismember the 138300N OCC, with widespread present and past hydrothermal activity (Semenov fields), while the Irinovskoe hydrothermal field at the 138200N core complex suggests a magmatic source within the footwall. These results confirm the ubiquitous relationship between hydrothermal activity and oceanic detachment formation and evolution.

Inertial Sensor Self-Calibration in a Visually-Aided Navigation Approach for a Micro-AUV

This paper presents a new solution for underwater observation, image recording, mapping and 3D reconstruction in shallow waters. The platform, designed as a research and testing tool, is based on a small underwater robot equipped with a MEMS-based IMU, two stereo cameras and a pressure sensor. The data given by the sensors are fused, adjusted and corrected in a multiplicative error state Kalman filter (MESKF), which returns a single vector with the pose and twist of the vehicle and the biases of the inertial sensors (the accelerometer and the gyroscope). The inclusion of these biases in the state vector permits their self-calibration and stabilization, improving the estimates of the robot orientation. Experiments in controlled underwater scenarios and in the sea have demonstrated a satisfactory performance and the capacity of the vehicle to operate in real environments and in real time.

An USBL-aided multisensor navigation system for field AUVs

This paper presents the integration of an Ultra Short Base Line (USBL) acoustic modem and positioning device in a two-parallel Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) multisensor navigation schema for an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). The system consists of a first odometric EKF position estimator fed with the measurements provided by an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), a Doppler Velocity Log (DVL), a visual tracker and a pressure sensor, and a second corrective EKF that fuses the previous sensors with the Global Positioning System (GPS) and the corrected delayed-state Ultra Short Base Line (USBL) position data. The first filter is aimed to compute a highly reliable vehicle position estimation from the sensor suit that produces high frequency relative navigation data. This estimation is essential to correct the delay of the USBL position measurements. The objective of the second filter is to give the vehicle a global pose, eliminating the drift inherent to dead-reckoning sensors by integrating absolute positions (GPS and USBL) provided at low frequencies. The effects of the USBL integration in the global localization module are evaluated in a simulated environment, and compared to a ground truth trajectory with the pose estimates given by the first EKF, the USBL raw data and the output of the second EKF, showing an effective reduction of the trajectory error.

One-shot underwater 3D reconstruction

A one-shot sensor for underwater 3D reconstruction is presented and tested underwater in a water tank. The system is composed of a RGB CCD camera and a 532 nm green laser with a Diffractive Optical Element attached to it. The laser projects a pattern of parallel lines into the scene. The deformed pattern obtained in the camera frame is then processed to obtain a non-dense 3D point cloud that can be later used for autonomous manipulation and grasping, or for detailed mapping of textureless objects or scenarios.

I-AUV Docking and Panel Intervention at Sea

The use of commercially available autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) has increased during the last fifteen years. While they are mainly used for routine survey missions, there is a set of applications that nowadays can be only addressed by manned submersibles or work-class remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) equipped with teleoperated arms: the intervention applications. To allow these heavy vehicles controlled by human operators to perform intervention tasks, underwater structures like observatory facilities, subsea panels or oil-well Christmas trees have been adapted, making them more robust and easier to operate. The TRITON Spanish founded project proposes the use of a light-weight intervention AUV (I-AUV) to carry out intervention applications simplifying the adaptation of these underwater structures and drastically reducing the operational cost. To prove this concept, the Girona 500 I-AUV is used to autonomously dock into an adapted subsea panel and once docked perform an intervention composed of turning a valve and plugging in/unplugging a connector. The techniques used for the autonomous docking and manipulation as well as the design of an adapted subsea panel with a funnel-based docking system are presented in this article together with the results achieved in a water tank and at sea.