Path tracking of an autonomous underwater vehicle in steering plane using an observer based sliding mode controller

This paper presents an observer based sliding mode control for the path tracking of a class of autonomous underwater vehicles in steering plane. A state feedback sliding mode controller for the path tracking is developed based on the mathematical model of AUV. An observer based sliding mode controller is then developed using a 3^rd order observer reducing the need of measurement of states. The proposed control law along with closed loop system stability analysis is provided using Lyapunov stability theorem. It is shown in the numerical simulations that the proposed control law is robust and approaches the performance of state feedback in the presence of parametric uncertainties and model perturbations.