Formation trajectory tracking control of discrete-time multi-AUV in a weak communication environment

The multi-AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) formation trajectory tracking control methods in the case of weak communication environment under discrete-time collection are studied in this paper. First, the discrete-time dynamic expression of the AUV model is given. Considering the environment disturbance, the communication structure with time-varying characteristics is divided into bounded and unbounded communication delay (packet losses) conditions. Then, the proposed coordinated trajectory tracking controller is discussed based on the leader-followers and the virtual leader method, and its convergence has been derived respectively. In addition, the switching topology communication structure caused by packet losses is discussed and analyzed. Finally, the simulation experiment verifies that the discrete-time multi-AUV system can form a fixed formation and achieve stable trajectory tracking under the bounded and unbounded communication delay in the underwater three-dimensional space.

Automated summary

This paper studies the trajectory tracking control methods for multi-AUV formation in the case of weak communication environment under discrete-time collection. It proposes a coordinated trajectory tracking controller based on leader-followers and virtual leader methods, and discusses the switching topology communication structure caused by packet losses.