Nonlinear path following control of autonomous underwater vehicles: Under-actuated and fully-actuated cases

This paper addresses the problem of nonlinear path following control of fully-actuated and under-actuated autonomous underwater vehicles. The similarity and difference of control designs on these two kinds of vehicles are analyzed, Where the side-slip angle is critical in dynamics evolving for both under-actuated and fully-actuated AUVs, which makes the difference in path following control design. As a result, the nonlinear controller for each type of AUV is proposed, and the inherent characteristics of under actuation and full actuation are revealed through numerical simulations.