Three-Dimensional Coordination Control for Multiple Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

In order to deal with coordination control for multiple autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), a three-dimensional coordination control scheme is proposed by combining sliding mode control, backstepping technique, and leader-follower strategy. A virtual trajectory is introduced to decrease the information exchange between AUVs. Global leader motion and follower controller constitute the coordination control scheme and are verified by a triangular prism formation simulation of six AUVs. The simulation results demonstrate that the controllers are capable of coordinating AUVs to achieve the desired formation and the coordination control scheme is effective.