A NONLINEAR VISION BASED TRACKING SYSTEM FOR COORDINATED CONTROL OF MARINE VEHICLES

A nonlinear vision based tracking system is developed to provide estimates of the position and velocity of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) relative to an Autonomous Surface Craft (ASC). Nonlinear estimator design builds on the theory of linear parametrically varying (LPV) systems. The theoretical framework adopted provides a powerful tool for estimator regional stability and performance analysis. Simulations illustrate the performance of the tracker developed.