Guidance and Control Based on Adaptive Sliding Mode Strategy for a USV Subject to Uncertainties

• Published in: IEEE journal of oceanic engineering Vol. 46; no. 4; pp. 1144 - 1154
• Main Authors: Gonzalez-Garcia, Alejandro, Castaneda, Herman
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.10.2021; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Adaptive control; Adaptive sliding-mode control (ASMC); Controllers; Guidance (motion); marine robotics; Mathematical model; Motion control; Parameter identification; path following; Pulse width modulation; Robust control; Sliding mode control; Slumping; Stability analysis; Surface vehicles; Surges; Tracking; Trajectory planning; Uncertainty; unmanned surface vehicle (USV); Unmanned vehicles; Vehicle dynamics
• ISSN: 0364-9059; 1558-1691
• DOI: 10.1109/JOE.2021.3059210

This article addresses a guidance and control strategy for an unmanned surface vehicle subject to uncertainties. The controller uses a dynamic three-degree-of-freedom model with identified parameters of an experimental platform. A strategy based on adaptive sliding-mode control is designed for the motion control of surge speed and heading variables, whereas a line-of-sight guidance law, with time-varying look-ahead distance, is applied to achieve path following. The adaptive controller is robust against bounded uncertainties/disturbances, and it does not overestimate the control gain. Outdoor experimental results validate the performance and advantages of the proposed control scheme in three different scenarios: 1) set-point regulation; 2) tracking of time-varying references; and 3) path following. To further demonstrate the characteristics of the proposed controller, a comparison against a standard controller while carrying an extra payload of 20% of the mass of the vessel is included.