Geometric control for autonomous underwater vehicles: Overcoming a thruster failure

The goal of this paper is to show how geometric control theory can be used to design efficient trajectories for an autonomous underwater vehicle descending into a basin, as well as performing its recovery after experiencing an actuator failure. The underwater vehicle is modeled as a forced affine connection control system, and the control strategies are developed through the use of integral curves of rank one and kinematic reductions. Such a method is particularly efficient in case of actuator failure and it provides a constructive way to design trajectories for the new under-actuated system. A typical scenario of basin descent is presented, control signals are computed to realize the desired trajectories and some simulations are provided.