Design and Testing of a Fuzzy Logic Controller for an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

1 Corresponding author’s e-mail: [email protected]. This work was partially supported by a Research Grant from the Hellenic General Secretariat of Research and Technology, PABE 99 – BE118. Abstract-This paper deals with the application of a fuzzy logic based algorithm to the control of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs). Fuzzy controllers are of simper design since they don’t require explicit modeling of the vehicle dynamics. Furthermore, they may be tuned for optimal performance, and replace existing controllers designed using conventional or nonlinear control theory techniques. The discussed fuzzy logic controller has being designed for the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) Phoenix AUV. The aim of the controller is the vehicle autonomous navigation in an ocean environment. The vehicle’s speed, heading, pitch and depth are simultaneously controlled for various simulated test cases considering the presence of undersea currents. Testing is based on the already derived hydrodynamic model and data of the NPS Phoenix AUV, with minor modifications in the added mass coefficients. The overall navigation performance of the proposed control scheme was encouraging and it may be used to estimate vital AUV issues, such as, the level of maneuverability and energy consumption of the vehicle.