DYNAMICS AND BIFURCATIONS OF PURSUIT GUIDANCE FOR VEHICLE PATH KEEPING IN THE DIVE PLANE

The problem of dynamic interactions between an orientation control law and pure pursuit guidance law for dive plane response of underwater v ehicles is analyzed. A complete stability analysis is performed in ord er to evaluate regions of stable vehicle operations. It is shown that loss of stability can occur in either a static or dynamic way. In the first, a linearly increasing path deviation is observed, whereas in th e second the loss of stability is accompanied by the generation of sel f-sustained oscillatory motions around the commanded path. Nonlinear a nalysis reveals the occurrence of both static and Poincare-Andronov-Ho pf bifurcations. Numerical experiments support the analytic prediction s of the bifurcation analysis.