Three-dimensional formation–containment control of underactuated AUVs with heterogeneous uncertain dynamics and system constraints

• Published in: Ocean engineering Vol. 238; p. 109661
• Main Authors: Zhang, Yuwei, Wang, Xingjian, Wang, Shaoping, Tian, Xinyu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 15.10.2021
• Subjects: Autonomous underwater vehicle; Formation–containment control; System constraints; Uncertainty; Uncertainty; Formation–containment control; System constraints; Autonomous underwater vehicle
• ISSN: 0029-8018; 1873-5258
• DOI: 10.1016/j.oceaneng.2021.109661

This paper investigates the formation–containment (FC) control problem of networked underactuated autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) in three-dimensional space. The multi-AUV system under consideration has directed topology, heterogeneous uncertain dynamics and system constraints. To achieve the leaders’ formation and followers’ containment, a two-layer control framework is adopted to decouple the FC problem into two subproblems: reference trajectory generation and trajectory tracking. In the upper layer, a distributed estimator is designed for each AUV to generate a reference trajectory in accordance with the FC objective. Subsequently, a model-free trajectory tracking strategy is developed in the lower layer, where adaptive neural networks combined with an auxiliary compensator are involved not only to approximate the heterogeneous system dynamics, but also to preserve the velocity and input constraints simultaneously. Input-to-state stability is employed to analyze the asymptotic stability of the closed-loop system. Finally, comparative simulations are carried out to illustrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed two-layer control protocol. •3D formation–containment control problem of underactuated AUVs is studied.•Heterogeneous uncertain dynamics and system constraints are considered.•A two-layer control scheme is adopted to address FC problem.•A distributed estimator is designed to generate the target trajectory.•A compound controller is developed to track the generated trajectory.