Switching control of an underwater glider with independently controllable wings

Abstract

This paper presents a control-oriented dynamic model of an underwater glider with independently controllable wings. We show that this particular feature is particularly useful to improve the vehicle's maneuverability.The only actuators here used are a ballast tank and two hydrodynamic wings. A switching control strategy, together with a backstepping control scheme, is designed to limit the action of the ballast tank and hence to enforce energy-efficient maneuvers.We consider a case study in which the vehicle has the hydrodynamic wings behind its main hull. This structure is motivated by the recently-introduced concept of the underwater wave glider, that is a vehicle capable of both surface and underwater navigation. The control algorithm is validated via numerical simulations of the vehicle performing three-dimensional path-following maneuvers.