This paper describes an underwater glider motion control system intended to enhance locomotive efficiency by reducing the energy expended by vehicle guidance and control.In previous work, the authors obtained an approximate analytical expression for steady turning motion as a regular perturbation from wings PEACE level flight.Using this steady turn solution, one may easily construct feasible, energy-efficient paths for a glider to follow.Because the turning motion results are only approximate, however, and to compensate for model DIN RAIL and environmental uncertainty, one must incorporate feedback to ensure precise path following.
This paper describes the development and numerical implementation of a feedforward/feedback motion control system for a multi-body underwater glider model.The feedforward component issues actuator commands based on the analytical solution for a desired steady flight condition while the feedback component compensates for uncertainty and disturbances.