Adaptive backstepping sliding mode control for an under-actuated Dish-shaped autonomous underwater vehicle

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Sun, Yu and Kong, Linghui and Zhu, Zijian and Zhang, Ming and Yuan, Zhiming and Du, Peizhou (2026) Adaptive backstepping sliding mode control for an under-actuated Dish-shaped autonomous underwater vehicle. Ocean Engineering, 358 (Part 2). 125835. ISSN 0029-8018 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2026.125835)

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Abstract

– Precise yaw and depth control are crucial for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) in complex underwater missions such as Arctic ice-covered region operations. Aiming at the control challenges of under-actuated Dish-shaped AUVs (unique vertical motion mechanism, strong nonlinearity, unknown system parameters, ocean current disturbances, and modeling uncertainties), this paper proposes an adaptive backstepping sliding mode control algorithm. The key innovations are threefold: Backstepping control systematically decomposes the nonlinear coupled dynamics to ensure global stability; Sliding mode control provides inherent robustness against external disturbances and modeling errors; An adaptive mechanism online estimates unknown system parameters and compensates for time-varying ocean currents. Furthermore, a saturation function and an adaptive projection algorithm are introduced to suppress chattering and guarantee bounded parameter estimation, which are critical for practical actuator implementation. Theoretical analysis proves that the proposed controller guarantees global uniform asymptotic stability. Both simulations (with/without ocean currents) and water-tank experiments were conducted. Compared with traditional Proportion Integration Differentiation (PID) controller and conventional sliding mode controller (SMC), the proposed adaptive backstepping sliding mode controller (ABSMC) demonstrates significantly faster dynamic response, higher steady-state tracking accuracy, and stronger disturbance rejection capability. Specifically, in the presence of random ocean currents, ABSMC maintains stable depth and yaw tracking with steady-state errors substantially lower than PID controller and SMC, while effectively reducing chattering. These results confirm that ABSMC provides a robust and adaptive solution for attitude and depth control of Dish-shaped AUVs in complex underwater environments.

ORCID iDs

Sun, Yu, Kong, Linghui, Zhu, Zijian, Zhang, Ming, Yuan, Zhiming ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9908-1813 and Du, Peizhou;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)