Controlling tracking trajectory of a robotic vehicle for inspection of underwater structures

This work presents nonlinear, multivariable control strategies, based on backstepping methodology and Control Lyapunov Function (CLF) for trajectory tracking problem of a Hybrid Remotely Operated Vehicle (HROV), which is under development at the Federal University of ABC (UFABC) since 2012. The main objective of the vehicle is to inspect underwater structures by measuring plates thickness. The design control for underactuated HROV presents some limitations in the vehicle trajectory. The control consists on the combination of two methodologies, which are the backstepping and the CLF. It also makes robustness study of controllers consider disturbance acting on the vehicle. The proposed control responded appropriately to the trajectories selected as reference and presents robustness for non-modeled external disturbances.