3D Path Following Control of Underactuated UUV Based on Backstepping

Path following controller design of underactuated unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) and its stability analysis in 3-dimensional space are studied. Firstly, a 6-DOF (degrees of freedom) kinematic model and a 6-DOF dynamic model of the underactuated UUV in the form of second-order integrator are established. For the kinematic model, taking the position errors as the virtual control variable, a path following controller is designed based on backstepping. It is theoretically proved that the designed path following control system is stable according to the Lyapunov theory. The path following control of underactuated UUV in 3-dimensional space is realized by the controller. The simulation results demonstrate its effectiveness.