Adaptive Data-Driven Control of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles: Bridging the Gap Between Simulation and Experimental Baseline via LSTM-MPC

This study proposes a robust data-driven control framework, LSTM-MPC, designed to enhance the velocity stabilization of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) operating under stochastic marine disturbances. Traditional control methods often struggle with the highly nonlinear and time-varying hydrodynamics of irregular waves. To address this, we employ a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) recurrent neural network to capture complex temporal dependencies and provide accurate multi-step-ahead velocity predictions. These predictions are integrated into a Model Predictive Control (MPC) scheme, which optimizes control actions while respecting actuator constraints. A key contribution is the integration of an error-triggered online learning mechanism. Utilizing run-time weight synchronization via MATLAB Coder, the framework dynamically adapts to plant mismatches and high-frequency MEMS noise without an explicit analytical model. The architecture was validated using experimental data from a Pixhawk/ArduSub baseline. Results demonstrate that, under these stochastic conditions, the data-driven approach significantly outperforms the standard PID-based baseline. While adaptive PID variants offer improvements, the suggested framework drastically reduces tracking errors in rotational axes while maintaining high precision in translational velocities. This research confirms that adaptive, data-driven strategies can effectively bridge the gap between simulation and real-world deployment, offering a scalable solution for robust AUV autonomy in unpredictable environments.