Development of a dynamic simulator for stability anal control of towed underwater vehicles

The paper presents the derivation of a mathematical model and a simulation code for the analysis of stability and control characteristics of towed underwater vehicles. The main objectives of the work were to develop an accurate, easy-to-use software, to be used in the analysis of dynamic behavior as well as in the synthesis of guidance and control strategies. The program has been written entirely using Matlab development code, although a version in C is also available, the main features of the simulator are the cable dynamics, and the capability of connecting the cable anywhere on the vehicle. The simulation is capable of describing the nonlinear motion, it has a linearization routine, and the results can be obtained numerically and graphically, taking advantage of Matlab´s graphical user interface. The program is modular and control and guidance algorithms are easily incorporated with the help of Simulink block diagram capabilities