Analyzing the impact of disturbances on the AUV docking control system

We consider the problem of docking the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to the seabed container. A two-level control system was previously developed using the mathematical model of the AUV dynamics. We further improve the mathematical model with the model of the AUV Computer Vision system, which is based on cameras and specialized markers installed on the container. In this paper, the studies are supplemented by considering the influence of two disturbance factors. The first one is the pixel coordinate error of the detected markers? Which is internal to the system. The second one is the external stationary ocean current. We study system performance in the vicinity of these factors and determine the acceptable docking conditions.