A nonlinear sliding mode autopilot for unmanned undersea vehicles

A nonlinear sliding mode autopilot has been designed to control the United States Navy, Office of Naval Research (ONR) unmanned undersea vehicles (UUVs). The paper discusses the selection process behind the choice of the sliding mode technique, and the design of the autopilot. This autopilot has been successfully demonstrated at sea and test data are presented. The autopilot has exhibited excellent dynamic control, performing manoeuvres at a range of different speeds.<
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