Dynamic Control and Disturbance Estimation of 3D Path Following for the Observation Class Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle

This study addresses the question of 3D path following for the observation class underwater remotely operated vehicle. The dynamic model of the investigated remote operated vehicle is taken as a coupled multibody system composing of a flexible body and a rigid body. For precise control, the tether cable disturbance has been investigated as well via a dynamic model. Each element of the tethered cable even has been taken as an elastic body, and the waves and current disturbances have been taken into consideration. Based on the multibody system model, an adaptive backstepping sliding mode controller has been designed. To improve the controller's systematic robustness against disturbances, the sliding mode surface and adaptive control rule have been designed, too. Experiments have been performed in a tank, including the 3D path following controls of depth, heading, advance, sideway, polygon line, and spiral line. With current and wave disturbances having been taken into consideration, the tether effect has been analyzed, the efficacy and superiority of adaptive backstepping sliding mode control have been verified. It is further confirmed from the comparisons that the investigated method outperforms those S surface based controllers