Horizontal-Plane Trajectory-Tracking Control of an Underactuated Unmanned Marine Vehicle in the Presence of Ocean Currents

Abstract

Based on an integral backstepping approach, a trajectorytracking control algorithm is proposed for an underactuated unmanned marine vehicle (UMV) sailing in the presence of ocean-current disturbance. Taking into consideration the UMV model's fore/aft asymmetry, a nonlinear threedegree-of-freedom (3DOF) underactuated dynamic model is established for the horizontal plane. First, trajectorytracking differences between controllers designed based on symmetric and asymmetric models of the UMV are discussed. In order to explicitly study the effect of oceancurrent interference on the trajectory-tracking controller, the ocean current is integrated into the kinematic and dynamic models of the UMV. Detailed descriptions of distinct trajectory-tracking control performances in the presence of different ocean-current velocities and direction angles are presented. The well-known persistent exciting (PE) condition is completely released in the designed trajectory-tracking controller. A mild integral item of trajectory tracking error is merged into the control law, and global stability analysis of the UMV system is carried out using Lyapunov theory and Barbalat's Lemma. Simulation experiments in the semi-physical simulation platform are implemented to confirm the effectiveness and superiority of the excogitated control algorithm.

Fuzzy-Based Optimal Adaptive Line-of-Sight Path Following for Underactuated Unmanned Surface Vehicle with Uncertainties and Time-Varying Disturbances

“…In military field, it can perform minesweeping, eavesdropping, tracking, and other missions in a harsh environment, where it is not suitable for people to participate in the tasks. It is worth mentioning that, in recent years, it often works with autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) as a signal transfer platform [2][3][4][5]. In civilian field, with the rapid increase of population and the lack of land resources, people urgently need to acquire resources from seventy percent of the ocean surface area.…”

Heading Control System Design for a Micro-USV Based on an Adaptive Expert S-PID Algorithm

“…Unmanned Surface Vessels (USVs) are attracting growing attention from researchers all over the world because of their extensive applications in military reconnaissance, homeland security, hydrographic surveys, environmental monitoring, marine scientific exploration, coordinating work with Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) [1][2][3][4]. A micro-USV is a kind of smaller unmanned surface vessel, usually less than three meters in length.…”

Adaptive line-of-sight path following control for underactuated autonomous underwater vehicles in the presence of ocean currents

“…0 when the path following errors are eliminated. Meanwhile, one can see from equation (18) Then, the next step is to design the guidance angle in equation (18). Since the ocean current is considered unknown, we define c ¼ ½# cx ; # cy T ¼ ½V cx ; V cy T as the current velocity to be estimated.…”

“…So far, most ocean current research results on marine vehicles are under the assumption that the current is irrotational and constant. 5,[11][12][13][14]18 Under this assumption, the model of the marine vehicle can be described by the relative velocities, which makes the controller design convenient that can be seen by reviewing Caharija et al 12 If the ocean current is unknown, current observers are useful in controller design, such as, path following, way-point tracking, and position tracking control. 5,[19][20][21] These current observers were designed based on the kinematic equations of the vehicle, and the position estimation can be obtained simultaneously.…”