An advanced Autonomous Underwater Vehicle design and control strategy

In this paper, an advanced design of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) is presented. The design is driven only by four water pumps. The different power combinations of the four motors provides the force and moment for propulsion and maneuvering. No control surfaces are needed in this design, which make the manufacturing cost of such a vehicle minimal and more reliable. Based on the propulsion method of the vehicle, a nonlinear AUV dynamic model is studied. This nonlinear model is linearized at the operation point. A control strategy of the AUV is proposed including attitude control and auto-pilot design. Simulation results for the attitude control loop are presented to validate this approach.