Dual Quaternions for the Kinematic Description of a Fish–Like Propulsion System

Abstract

This study discusses the use of quaternions and dual quaternions in the description of artificial fish kinematics. The investigation offered here illustrates quaternion and dual quaternion algebra, as well as its implementation in the software chosen. When it comes to numerical stability, quaternions are better than matrices because a normalised quaternion always shows the correct rotation, while a matrix more easily loses its orthogonality due to rounding errors and oversizing. Although quaternions are more compact than rotation matrices, using quaternions does not always provide less numerical computation and the amount of memory needed. In this paper, an algebraic form of quaternion representation is provided which is less memory-demanding than the matrix representation. All the functions that were used to prepare this work are presented, and they can be employed to conduct more research on how well quaternions work in a specific assignment.

Keywords

• quaternions
• dual quaternions
• artificial fish
• underwater vehicle
• undulating propulsion system