Finite-time path following control of a sailboat with actuator failure and unknown sideslip angle

Suffering from actuator failure and complex sideslip angle, the motion control of a sailboat becomes challenging. In this paper, an improved double finite-time observer-based line-of-sight guidance and finite-time control (IDFLOS-FC) scheme is presented for path following of sailboats. The salient features of the proposed IDFLOS-FC scheme are as follows: (1) Considering the problem of actuator failure, an actuator failure model is introduced into the dynamics model of a sailboat. (2) The time-varying sideslip angle of the sailboat is accurately observed by the double finite-time sideslip observers (DFSOs), which reduces the error in line-of-sight (LOS) guidance. (3) A radial basis function (RBF) neural network is used to fit the uncertainty of the model, and the upper bound of the sum of fault effects and external disturbances is estimated based on adaptive theory, so that the controller has accurate tracking and interference suppression. (4) According to the Lyapunov method, the system is finite-time stable. Finally, simulation was used to validate the effectiveness of the method.

Automated summary

In this paper, an improved double finite-time observer-based line-of-sight guidance and finite-time control (IDFLOS-FC) scheme is proposed for sailboat path following. The salient features of the proposed scheme include introducing an actuator failure model, accurately observing the time-varying sideslip angle, using a radial basis function neural network to fit model uncertainty, and ensuring finite-time stability based on the Lyapunov method.