Underwater gliders are a relatively new type of low-power, long duration underwater
vehicle that use changes in buoyancy to propel themselves forward. They are widely
used today for oceanographic research, and a number of theoretical control schemes
have been derived over the years. However, despite their nonlinear dynamics that
evolve as a function of their environment and operating conditions, most fielded
gliders use linear control methods, such as static-gain proportional-integral (PI) or
proportional-integral-derivative (PID) compensators for motion control, which can
significantly limit vehicle performance.
This thesis develops an alternative approach to underwater glider control that employs
control system gain-scheduling to improve vehicle performance and efficiency over a
wider range of operating conditions as compared to static or fixed-gain approaches. The
primary contribution of this thesis is the development of a practical gain-scheduling
procedure using linearized models of the decoupled pitch and yaw dynamics of the
vehicle. This methodology improves on the current fixed-gain topologies used on
fielded gliders today, while being straightforward and cost-effective to implement.
In this thesis, the development of a nonlinear dynamical model of a Slocum glider using
computer-aided design (CAD) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations
was also carried out to support the high-fidelity characterization of the controller
topologies. A nonlinear numerical simulation of the Slocum glider was developed in Matlab and was used to assess the performance improvements and the increased
robustness of the gain-scheduled PID method to a standard fixed-gain PID approach
