Finite-time sliding mode control of underwater vehicles in 3D space

Abstract

In this paper, trajectory tracking control of an underwater vehicle in three-dimensional (3D) space has been addressed. The assumed underwater vehicle has 6 degrees of freedom and the aim is to control all system rotations and displacements. In this paper, a finite-time sliding mode controller as a robust control method is proposed for an underwater vehicle with 6 degrees of freedom in 3D space using the method without simplifications or decouplings. Therefore, both system positions and orientations are controlled in the presence of disturbances and uncertainties. In previous research works, control of two-dimensional underwater vehicles is commonly studied. In this paper, a novel stable control algorithm is proposed for an underwater vehicle with 6 degrees of freedom. The stability of the closed-loop system is analyzed using the Lyapunov theory. The designed algorithm can cover 3D complicated tasks. Also, the designed algorithm as a robust control approach can attenuate external disturbances. The performance and stability of this approach are compared with the sliding mode controller. The numerical comparison results show that the proposed approach is effective and applicable in practice.