Steering the AUV into the Vicinity of a Given Object Based on Observations of the Viewing Angle

The problem of steering underactuated autonomous underwater vehicles in the horizontal plane under the action of uncontrolled constant ocean currents into the vicinity of a given object is considered. Controls are formed by measurements of the angle of sight characterizing the position of the object (for example, its centroid) by images coming from a video camera or an acoustic sensor. It is used the pure-pursuit guidance law. The proposed approach is based on a stability concept of terminal systems with a singular point, a generalization of the Lyapunov function method, asymptotic analysis in a vicinity of the singular point for increasing the initial range.