Objectives An adaptive controller is designed for the longitudinal control channel of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) in order to suppress the influence of hydrodynamic parameters and complex external environment disturbance during AUV motion.

Methods First, a dynamic model of the AUV system is established and the L1 adaptive controller is then designed on the basis of the longitudinal control model of the REMUS AUV system. Finally, Matlab/Simulink is used to simulate the L1 adaptive controller under different disturbance conditions, and the effects are compared with a PID controller in the same environment.

Results Under the condition of strong external interference, the control effects of the L1 adaptive controller are more stable than those of the PID controller. When the hydrodynamic parameters of the AUV motion model change, the L1 adaptive controller can still maintain stability.

Conclusion The simulation results show that the controller designed on the basis of L1 adaptive theory has good dynamic response and can guarantee anti-interference ability and robustness.