A new method of path planning and tracking while maintaining a constant distance from underwater moving objects has been developed for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). First a kinematics controller that generates the proper trajectories is designed. Then a dynamics sliding mode controller is employed to drive the vehicle on the desired trajectories. The dynamics controller is robust against the parameter uncertainty in the dynamics model of the vehicle. Results of numerical simulations for INFANTE-AUV model show excellent performance for tracking of an object on sinusoidal trajectory.

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