Optimal Matching Analysis of Net Buoyancy and Pitching Angle for Underwater Gliders

Control parameter optimization is an efficient way to improve the endurance of underwater gliders (UGs), which influences their gliding efficiency and energy consumption. This paper analyzes the optimal matching between the net buoyancy and the pitching angle and proposes a segmented control strategy of Petrel-L. The optimization of this strategy is established based on the gliding range model of UG, which is solved based on the approximate model, and the variations of the optimal control parameters with the hotel load are obtained. The optimization results indicate that the segmented control strategy can significantly increase the gliding range when the optimal matching between the net buoyancy and the pitching angle is reached, and the increase rate is influenced by the hotel load. The gliding range of the underwater glider can be increased by 10.47% at a hotel load of 0.5 W. The optimal matching analysis adopted in this study can be applied to other UGs to realize endurance improvement.