Backstepping-Based Trajectory Tracking Control for a Self-Developed Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

In this paper, a backstepping-based trajectory tracking control strategy is presented for a self-developed torpedoshaped autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). First, the mechanical structure of the AUV is systematically described, and hydrodynamic coefficients obtained through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations are briefly incorporated into its dynamic modeling. Subsequently, a five-degree-of-freedom (5-DOF) trajectory tracking controller is designed using the backstepping method, and the stability analysis is conducted to derive sufficient conditions for the convergence of the tracking error dynamics. Finally, the numerical simulations are performed to validate the effectiveness of the proposed control methods and results.