Nonlinear RISE-Based Control of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

This study focuses on the development of a nonlinear control design for a fully-actuated autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) using a continuous robust integral of the sign of the error control structure to compensate for system uncertainties and sufficiently smooth bounded exogenous disturbances. A Lyapunov stability analysis is included to prove semiglobal asymptotic tracking. The resulting controller is experimentally validated on an AUV developed at the University of Florida in both controlled and open-water environments.