Path tracking control for underactuated AUVs based on resolved motion acceleration control

In contrast with man-operating underwater vehicles, autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) should find a proper trajectory, control to follow the trajectory, avoid static or moving obstacles, and home safely to their mother ship or launching device by themselves. As a consequence, lots of newly introduced problems have to be solved compared to man-operating underwater vehicle case. In these works we focus on path following control problems. Most AUVs are usually designed to be under-actuated or non-holonomic constrained system. In this paper, we propose a method of resolved motion and acceleration control (RMAC) to solve the path following control problems of an underactuated AUV. Simulations were done to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control method for underactuated AUV and results are discussed.