Adaptive Tracking Controller Design for the Horizontal Planner Motion of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

Abstract

Research in the domain of control of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) has dragged great interest in last few years due to its wide range of applications such as ocean floor analysis, search of lost manmade objects, rescue missions, surveillance, military operations and numerous hazardous activities where human involvement is very dangerous, etc. In many conditions, an AUV has to track a moving object which means the autonomous vehicle needs to be adaptive with respect to the speed and direction variations of the required target. Comprehensive analysis of an AUV in the simulated environment using a set of nonlinear differential equations will be define with six degree of freedom dynamical motion. The mathematical model of autonomous underwater vehicle strongly depends upon the dynamic response, accurate control, navigation, and guidance path for the AUV. Accurate modeling of underwater vehicle is therefore of prime importance for precision control and for the execution of path planning missions. An AUV is subjected to follow a nonlinear target point path. Tracking this desired nonlinear path makes the modeling and control of the AUV more challenging task. In this study, the control techniques to the horizontal motion of an AUV equipped with an adaptive path tracking control system and Model Predictive Controller (MPC) control law will be applied to carried out detailed understanding of a complex AUV model under critical Transitional Maneuvers (TMs)and establish a smooth tracking of the desired target point. The simulation results show that the AUV model can successfully execute required maneuvers while tracking the desired target point path.