Control of an autonomous underwater vehicle

In this thesis, an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) was designed, built and tested. The dynamics of the AUV was modelled based on Fossen’s model and simplified due to the symmetries of the vehicle. With the hydrodynamic parameters obtained from computational fluid dynamics, the dynamics of the AUV was simulated using the Simulink software. PID controllers were designed for controlling the roll, pitch and yaw of the AUV. Sway control was eliminated from the design to reduce its complexity, while feedback loops could not be designed for the surge and heave due to limited sensor readings. Simulation and experimental results were compared for various tests, which included open-loop as well as close-loop tests.Bachelor of Engineering (Aerospace Engineering