Estimation of added mass and drag coefficient for a small remotely operated vehicle

To meet the needs of controlling a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) underwater, a grey-box based parameter estimation approach for a ROV is put forward from energy conversion viewpoint and according the kinetic energy law. Experiments for ROV Golden-fish II are reported, performed in a laboratory tank based on the above methods. Finally, the results of parameter estimation are shown to be valid by comparison with the data from the formula for ocean and underwater engineering handbook and from CFD (computational fluid dynamics) computation. The method above is based on simple physical principles and is suitable for linear and non-linear systems.