Research on UUV's heading control based on adaptive robust PD control principle

In this paper, an adaptive robust PD controller for Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV) is proposed. Though conventional PD control is simple and effective for UUV heading control, in many circumstances, a large initial torque is required, while the maximum torque of the rudder is limited, thus making it unavailable to further improve the heading control effects. The adaptability and robustness of this control system is investigated by computer simulation, lake and sea trials. Experimental results indicate the effectiveness of the proposed controller in dealing with model uncertainties, nonlinearities of UUV, and eliminating the excessive initial output torque of the rudder and environmental disturbance caused by sea currents and waves.