Robust formation control of autonomous underwater vehicles with actuator saturations under discrete-time periodic communications

摘要

In this paper, a new leader-follower formation control scheme for multiple autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) networked by sampled-data information is proposed. We consider the case when the leader of the fleet follows a predefined path, whereas other vehicles try keep a desired formation while tracking the maneuvers of the leader. Under the proposed scheme, each vehicle as a leader in the formation periodically samples and transmits to its followers information about its position in global reference frame. The follower, based on the received information, its own sampled data, and the reference path parameters spread over communication network, computes the relative positioning errors and desired motion parameters to feed them to a local controller. Feedback gains of the distributed control system that ensure stability (dissipativity) of formation are synthesized with the use of the vector Lyapunov function technique adopted for sampled-data control system design taking into account communication delays, measurement errors, and saturation of control signals. Some simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.