Sliding mode based MIMO control of autonomous underwater vehicle

Autonomous underwater vehicles are gaining importance for its major contribution in scientific, commercial and military underwater applications. The control of AUVs is challenging due to the presence of nonlinearities, un-modeled dynamics and parameter variations along with coupled equation of motion. Complexity is further increased due to the combined control of depth, roll, pitch and yaw for AUVs. This paper is focused on such combined control of the nonlinear model of an autonomous underwater vehicle. A novel robust sliding mode controller (SMC) is presented in this paper to perform desired objectives for a nonlinear model of autonomous underwater vehicle. Furthermore, ocean currents model is also incorporated as a disturbance and desired control objectives are achieved against mentioned disturbance. Results obtained from simulation proves the robustness of proposed controllers against of such disturbances.