Guidance and control of a biomimetic autonomous underwater vehicle using body-fin propulsion

Abstract

Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) with rigid hulls and powered by rotary propellers have problems such as inefficient propulsion, difficulties associated with positioning, limited turning agility and imprecise hovering. Recently, research and development into biomimetic AUVs (BAUVs) have accelerated in order to solve the problems of the propulsion of AUVs by propellers. A testbed BAUV is being developed. A local control law that coordinates body angles by periodically alternating the position of the centre-of-mass in local coordinates is developed. Three parameters are found to suffice to coordinate joint angles in carangiform swimming. A global control law is then developed for solving the waypoint tracking problem. The effectiveness of this method is evaluated using computer simulation. The control performance of the BAUV system with model uncertainties for waypoint tracking under the influence of disturbances is also discussed.