Nonholonomic motion control of an autonomous underwater vehicle

A submersible can carry limited supply of fuel onboard. Use of control planes along with propeller for major part of its motion can conserve much energy; thus extending the duration of underwater missions. Such an underwater vehicle has nonholomic nature due to its nonlinear kinematic structure. The authors describe the kinematics of an underwater vehicle by six state variables and four inputs, and use a Lyapunov-like function to develop a nonlinear feedback control scheme. Effectiveness of the nonlinear control scheme was verified through numerical simulation