Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 April 2014
This paper proposes a new technique based on a Parameter-Optimal Iterative Learning Control (POILC) to track a command pitch rate of a high-speed supercavitating vehicle (HSSV). The pitch rate of a supercavitating vehicle has non-minimum phase behavior. Thus, tracking is fundamentally limited to poor performance. To solve this problem, a feed-forward control can be used while using the cavitator as a control input in the feed-forward path to modify the slow response caused by non-minimum phase behavior. The main idea of this paper is to apply the cavitator input with high precision as a feed-forward control to improve tracking performance. The exact value of the feed-forward control is achieved using POILC. However, in the presence of uncertainty, zero convergence of POILC algorithms is threatened. It will be shown that applying adaptive weight in the performance index, the convergence is guaranteed in the presence of uncertainty and also when the system is sign-indefinite. The proposed technique includes an optimal planning to make the error norm monotonically convergent to zero. The convergence and perfect tracking will be guaranteed through a Lyapunov candidate. Performance and significance of the proposed supercavitating vehicle control will be verified by simulation.