Model-Based Controller Using Quasi-Velocities for Some Vehicles

This paper deals with the problem of trajectory tracking control for some vehicles (underwater vehicles, and indoor airships). The approach uses a velocity transformation which results from the inertia matrix decomposition. Next, a model-based non-adaptive nonlinear tracking controller in terms of the Generalized Velocity Components (GVC) is proposed. An important property of the algorithm is that the control gains are closely related to the dynamics of the vehicle (especially dynamical couplings). The general algorithm was given for a 6 DOF vehicle and tested using simulation. The results obtained for a full airship model have shown that the control scheme guarantees satisfactory performance.