Robust trajectory control of underwater vehicles

The Deep Submergence Laboratory at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is currently developing supervisory control system methodologies for underwater vehicles and manipulators. These technologies are currently being applied to Several tethered systems under development at the laboratory, however much of the work is directly applicable to untethered systems as well. Specific areas under investigation include man-machine interface design, control theoretic aspects of vehicle and manipulator control, and navigation sensors. The design of the closed-loop control system is a primary issue for any underwater vehicle that is not controlled manually. Precise trajectory control of all vehicles movements is particularly difficult due to the nonlinear, uncertain nature of the dynamics of underwater systems. A new control system design methodology called sliding control has been shown to deal with these difficult problems very effectively. In this paper, methodology and results from simulation and actual tests in the water are reviewed.