Chen Zi-Yin’s research while affiliated with Harbin Engineering University and other places

In this paper, a nonlinear backstepping controller based on line of sight guidance method is presented to drive an underactuated AUV to follow desired bottom profile. Tracking error equations in vertical plane are established according to the virtual guidance method. Based on Lyapunov stability theorem, the whole system can be guaranteed asymptotic stability with bottom-following error convergence to zero, and the states are all bounded. Finally, simulation results illustrate that the parameters of controller are easy to be adjusted, and the vehicle can track the desired bottom profile accurately.

To achieve path following control of an underactuated autonomous underwater vehicle(AUV) with model parameter uncertainties, diffeomorphism transformation is introduced to establish the path tracking error expressed in Serret-Frenet frame which is attached to the virtual guidance moving along the path. Control laws for surge velocity, evolution rate of virtual guidance and yaw moment of AUV are obtained through recursive backstepping design procedure to reduce the tracking error. The robust adaptive controller is employed to compensate the model uncertainties through feedback loop with adaptive laws are designed with Lyapunov stability theorem, so all signals in the closed loop of AUV path following error system are guaranteed to be uniformly ultimately bounded and the tracking error is proven to converge to a small neighborhood of origin. Finally, effectiveness of the proposed controller is validated by the simulation results.