Before the task of autonomous underwater vehicle(AUV) was implemented actually,its semi-physical simulation system of pipeline tracking had been designed.This semi-physical simulation system was used to test the software logic,hardware architecture,data interface and reliability of the control system.To implement this system,the whole system plan,including interface computer and the methods of pipeline tracking,was described.Compared to numerical simulation,the semi-physical simulation was used to test the real software and hardware more veritably.In the semi-physical simulation system,tracking experiments of both straight lines and polygonal lines were carried out,considering the influence of ocean current and the situation of buried pipeline.The experimental results indicate that the AUV can do pipeline tracking task,when angles of pipeline are 15°,30°,45° and 60°.In the ocean current of 2 knots,AUV could track buried pipeline.
