PID Based Path Follower for the MiddleAUV on the Test Polygon

This article is devoted to the practical implementation of the path following algorithm based on Line of Sight. The object of the study is a small autonomous underwater vehicle named as MiddleAUV. The motion control is implemented by means of PID controllers based on the distance to the point and on the course angle to the waypoint. The desired route is constructed from several waypoints. The transition from one waypoint to another occurs when the specified distance to the current waypoint is reached. Experiments were carried out in a special pool, and position fixation with the help of a video camera attached to the bottom of the submersible, and a marker chessboard. The experiments contained movement along a rectangle and an octagon, and were conducted in series to verify the validity of the results. The results of the experiments showed that the movement of the robot occurs in accordance with the planned route, the quality of movement corresponds to what was done earlier in numerical experiments.