Control system for installation and position keeping of interconnected flexible floating bridge

We propose an approach for floating bridge installation and operation. A floating bridge aims to carry heavy vehicles, trucks, and people over a body of water. However, bridge installation and operation are mainly performed by humans regardless of adverse conditions, such as active combat or disaster occurrence. For installing and operating floating bridges under such conditions, we devised a solution based on control system design and automatic installation. The floating bridge system is controlled and positioned by a power propulsion system that is attached to floating units of the bridge. An optimal control system based on state estimator, which is designed using a robust control framework, is applied to install and operate the bridge. A simulation analysis and experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of proposed method on a bridge system model comprising five floating units.