Control of an ellipsoidal underwater vehicle with single actuator

This paper introduces the application of a new control method for a nonholonomic underwater vehicle (NUV) which has a scalene ellipsoidal shape and only one actuator. A nonlinear model of an autonomous underwater vehicle was studied. For controlling the NUV, a new control method, optimal control of a mechanical system by means of energy equation, was introduced and used. The applied control method allows obtaining the analytical solution by minimizing the functional which includes system characteristics through power equation. The control system of the NUV was developed and simulated by a software tool. Our simulation results show that the NUV could be controlled even though it has only one actuator.