Adaptive passivity-based control of an autonomous underwater vehicle

An Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) is a nonlinear nonholonomic dynamical system. Tracking control of AUVs in the presence of disturbances and uncertainties is a challenging problem. In this paper, an adaptive passivity-based algorithm is proposed for tracking control of an AUV. Also, a disturbance estimator has been used to attenuate the effects of unknown disturbances. A proper adaptive rule is designed to estimate unknown parameters and disturbances. The stability of the proposed method is analyzed using passivity properties and the Lyapunov theory. Obtained comparative results show the advantages of the proposed Adaptive Computed Torque Method ACTM plus disturbance estimator.