Position and attitude tracking of AUV's: a quaternion feedback approach

A position and attitude tracking control law for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV's) in 6 degrees of freedom (DOF) is derived. The 4-parameter unit quaternion (Euler parameters) is used in a singularity-free representation of attitude. Global convergence of the closed-loop system is proven. In addition, several 3-parameter representations in terms of the Euler parameters are discussed with application to the same control law. These schemes contain singularities, and only local convergence can therefore be proven. The proposed control scheme is simulated with Euler parameters and Euler angles.>