Tutorial 2: "Modelling, identification and motion estimation of unmanned marine vehicles" by CNR

Summary:

The tutorial followed the planned contents about modelling, identification and motion estimation of Unmanned Marine Vehicles, given by Massimo Caccia from CNR-ISSIA. The first day focused on modelling, identification, filtering and motion estimation techniques, placing special emphasis on practical issues and experience. Examples of modelling and identification of ROVs and catamaran-shaped USVs were given, focusing on the design of suitable experiments able to exploit the data of standard sensors mounted onboard the vehicles. During the afternoon, basic theoretical and practical aspects about smoothers and filters have been presented, focusing on outlier rejection, noise characterization and Kalman filtering.
During the second day, the tutorial was focused on open discussion about previous experience of the participants. Guidance and control aspects were discussed, too, as well as the behaviour of acoustic devices in reflective environments, such as, for instance, polar regions covered by ice.

The outcomes of the tutorial were:

• Participants were introduced to modelling and identification of UMVs, namely open frame ROVs and catamaran-like USVs
• Participants were introduced to sensor characterisation and motion estimation of UMVs.
• Participants discussed operational experiences with the tutor who provided hints about practical implementation of theoretical methods.

The tutorial also presented many opportunities for free discussion exchange of know-how and experiences and allowed meeting many students and researchers from University of Zagreb, with several conversations about past and future projects, the state of the art of several research fields of interest, and potential collaborations.