Design of Robust Depth Controller for an AUV with Disturbance

A linearized decoupled depth plane model is used to formulate the control problem of an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). This paper describes the design and simulation of a depth plane control for a diving autopilot system for MAYA AUV. An effective control strategy on pitch angle is inevitable to achieve the specified depth of the vehicle. The resonant controller is designed by introducing a pole assignment technique to control the pitch angle with disturbance. The proportional controller is used to command and regulate the depth of the vehicle. The robustness analysis is done using the proposed control scheme with achieved performance. The efficacy of the proposed control scheme to track the sinusoidal reference input and reject the sinusoidal disturbance is reported with and without uncertainties in depth plane model using the computational simulation tool.