Control and guidance for homing and docking tasks using an autonomous underwater vehicle

This paper presents the results of a control andguidance strategy for homing and docking tasks using anautonomous underwater vehicle. An optimal high-order slidingmode control via state-dependent Riccati equation approach isintroduced providing a robustness of motion control includingelimination of chattering effect for decoupled systems of anAUV. Motion planning for a docking is introduced. The averagevector field based on an artificial potential field method givesa desired trajectory using existing information from oceannetwork sensors. It provides a guidance for an AUV to followthe path to a required position with final desired orientation.A Line-of-Sight method is used for an AUV to follow thepredefined path. In order to improve a docking manoeuver, aswitched weight technique is proposed for controlling a vehicle’spath and final stage docking