Turning circle based trajectory planning method of an underactuated AUV for the mobile docking mission

Abstract In this paper, a turning circle based trajectory planning method (TCBTPM) is proposed to conduct trajectory planning of an underactuated autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) for mobile docking mission. Firstly, the six degrees of freedom kinematics and dynamics model of underactuated AUV is acquired. Following this, the simulation of horizontal turning circle trial is studied and the overview of mobile docking mission is introduced. Furthermore, TCBTPM is used to predict the relative position of AUV and the mobile docking station (MDS) in advance and generate a feasible trajectory for the mobile docking mission. Finally, a mobile docking guidance system containing TCBTPM, pure pursuit (PP) guidance law and line-of-sight (LOS) guidance law is employed to obtain desired guidance commands and guides the underactuated AUV to dock efficiently and reliably.