Six degree of freedom vehicle controller design for the operation of an unmanned underwater vehicle in a shallow water environment

Abstract

Closed loop control of an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) in the dynamically difficult environment of shallow water requires explicit consideration of the highly coupled nature of the governing non-linear equations of motion. This coupling between an UUV's six degrees of freedom (6 DOF) is particularly important when attempting complex maneuvers such as coordinated turns (e.g. simultaneous dive and heading change) or vehicle hovering in such an environment. Given the parameter and modelling uncertainties endemic to these equations of motion, then a robust 6 DOF sliding controller employing six-element vector sliding surfaces provides a framework in which satisfactory UUV control can be achieved in shallow water. The vehicle equations of motion are developed and cast in a form that is amenable to non-linear sliding control design. A complete 6 DOF sliding controller with vector sliding surfaces is then formulated via a Lyapunov-like analysis. The sliding controller is then modified via a weighted least-squares approach to work with a particular UUV which has only 4 DOF control authority available. The modified controller is shown to work well for a variety of commanded UUV maneuvers in the presence of significant environmental disturbances and vehicle hydrodynamic parameter uncertainties via numerical simulation. Use of the signals generated by the controller are shown to be of utility in vehicle buoyancy control.