Learning and Near-Optimal Control of Underactuated Surface Vessels With Periodic Disturbances

In this article, we propose a novel learning and near-optimal control approach for underactuated surface (USV) vessels with unknown mismatched periodic external disturbances and unknown hydrodynamic parameters. Given a prior knowledge of the periods of the disturbances, an analytical near-optimal control law is derived through the approximation of the integral-type quadratic performance index with respect to the tracking error, where the equivalent unknown parameters are generated online by an auxiliary system that can learn the dynamics of the controlled system. It is proved that the state differences between the auxiliary system and the corresponding controlled USV vessel are globally asymptotically convergent to zero. Besides, the approach theoretically guarantees asymptotic optimality of the performance index. The efficacy of the method is demonstrated via simulations based on the real parameters of an USV vessel.

Automated summary

This article presents a novel learning and near-optimal control approach for underactuated surface vessels with unknown disturbances and hydrodynamic parameters, where an analytical near-optimal control law is derived and state differences between auxiliary and controlled systems are proven to converge to zero globally. The method theoretically guarantees the asymptotic optimality of the performance index, as demonstrated through simulations based on real parameters of USV vessels.