Backstepping-based path following control of an underactuated autonomous underwater vehicle

This paper derives a control law to steer the dynamic model of an underactuated autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) along a predefined path. We describe the path to be followed by the movement of a virtual AUV and drive the actual AUV on the desired path through following this virtual AUV. Furthermore, it overcomes a singular point that are presented in a number of path following control strategies described in the literature. Controller design builds on Lyapunov theory and backstepping techniques. The resulting control law yields convergence of the path following error trajectories to zero. Simulations illustrate the performance of the proposed controller.