Identifying the marine vehicle from the pulse response

The application of systems identification techniques for establishing the stability and control characteristics of marine vehicles using a record of their response to a pulse maneuver is examined. Equations of disturbed motion for lateral motion and vertical motion (in the case of submersibles) as well as the effects of fluid memory on hydrodynamic force increments are considered. Results show that the motion is represented by a linear transfer operator. The application of the analysis to artificial records is reported.