A hybrid control architecture development for the guidance, navigation and control of the tethra prototype submersible vehicle

The Mobile & Marine Robotics Research Centre (MMRRC) at the University of Limerick is developing a highly manoeuvrable AUV platform to address the challenges of highresolution seabed survey in both shallow and deep water. The work of the author in the development of a novel guidance, navigation and control (GNC) system for the Tethra AUV is described in the thesis. A full and comprehensive GNC system, with open architecture, has been designed, implemented and tested with many novel features. The main components of the control system include: Control Allocation, Virtual Joystick, Low-level controllers, Fuzzy controller for Obstacle Avoidance and Behaviour Coordinator/Arbitration. As result of the research and development of the author the Tethra AUV has been endowed with a comprehensively integrated Guidance Navigation and Control system, enabling the execution of full survey scale operations in challenging near seabed scenarios.