Control functions for autonomous underwater vehicle on-board command and control systems

Studies on potential naval uses of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) have shown that many operational benefits will only be realised through the achievement of high levels of performance and robustness in AUV navigation, guidance and control (NGC) functionality within a wider scoped on-board command and control system. This paper discusses some results from lateral motion controller design studies where the emphasis was placed on investigating real world requirements for multiple actuators, actuation strategies and the impact of control surface effectiveness on AUV integration with host platforms. While the realisation of NGC functionality to meet mission trajectory requirements represents an important area of current research, system integration studies also indicate that there is a longer term requirement for close coupling of mission sensor usage and vehicle NGC to optimise sensor effectiveness and a need to develop and support functional modules within common AUV system architectures/infrastructures