Output feedback control of slender body underwater vehicles with current estimation

Abstract

In this paper we present an output feedback controller for underwater vehicles. The main design objective behind the employed strategy is to reduce the destabilizing effect of the Coriolis and centripetal forces and moments. These forces and moments represent a significant challenge for automatic control when the forward speed is sufficiently high. However, by explicitly utilizing an estimation of the current velocity in the observer, this paper shows that a high degree of robustness related to current disturbance is achieved. The system, with this output feedback controller, is proved to be globally uniformly asymptotically stable on the state space which it is defined. Simulations demonstrate the performance of the proposed output feedback controller.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Kongsberg ASA for their support and contribution to the project.