A Robust Reach Set MPC Scheme for Control of AUVs

Abstract

The Attainable Set Model Predictive Control scheme is discussed and shown to meet the needed system behavioral properties while satisfying real-time requirements underlying the control of Autonomous Underwater Vehicle formations, including the strict on-board resource constraints. More specifically, the proposed approach targets the on-line computational complexity and relies on taking advantage of the control problem time invariant elements, in order to replace, as much as possible, on-line by off-line computation, while guaranteeing asymptotic stability, and promoting the best trade-off between feedback control near optimality, and robustness to perturbations (due to disturbances, and uncertainties), and adaptivity to the environment variability. The data computed off-line is stored onboard in look-up tables, and recruited and adapted on-line with small computation effort according to the real-time context specified by communicated or sensed data. This scheme is particularly important to an increasing range of applications exhibiting severe real-time constraints.