Cooperative control of multiple surface vessels in the presence of ocean currents and parametric model uncertainty

This paper addresses the problem of cooperative path‐following of multiple autonomous vehicles. Stated briefly, the problem consists of steering a group of vehicles along specified paths while keeping a desired spatial formation. For a given class of autonomous surface vessels, it is shown how Lyapunov‐based techniques and graph theory can be brought together to design a decentralized control structure, where the vehicle dynamics and the constraints imposed by the topology of the inter‐vehicle communication network are explicitly taken into account. To achieve path‐following for each vehicle, a nonlinear adaptive controller is designed that yields convergence of the trajectories of the closed‐loop system to the path in the presence of constant unknown ocean currents and parametric model uncertainty. The controller derived implicitly compensates for the effect of the ocean current without the need for direct measurements of its velocity. Vehicle cooperation is achieved by adjusting the speed of each vehicle along its path according to information exchanged on the positions of a subset of the other vehicles, as determined by the communication topology adopted. Global stability and convergence of the closed‐loop system are guaranteed. Illustrative examples are presented and discussed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

多自主船协同路径跟踪的自适应动态面控制

为实现多自主船含模型不确定与未知风浪流干扰下的协同路径跟踪控制,提出了一种基于神经网络自适应动态面控制的协同路径跟踪算法.该算法采用单隐层(SHL)神经网络逼近模型不确定性以及海洋环境干扰,所引入的动态面设计技术显著降低了控制算法的复杂性.同时将网络通信约束考虑在内,通过设计分散式协同控制律有效地降低了信息通讯量.Lyapunov稳定性分析证明了闭环系统所有的状态和信号是有界的,并且通过选择合适的设计参数可使跟踪误差为任意小.对比仿真结果验证了所提方法的有效性.     

A robust discrete‐time adaptive control approach for systems with almost periodic time‐varying parameters

A periodic adaptive control approach is proposed for a class of nonlinear discrete‐time systems with time‐varying parametric uncertainties which are almost periodic, and the only prior knowledge is the periodicity. The new adaptive controller updates the parameters and the control signal periodically in a pointwise manner over one entire period, in the sequel that achieves a bounded tracking convergence. The result is further extended to scenarios with unknown input gain, higher order dynamics, and tracking. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Actuator fault‐tolerant control of ocean surface vessels with input saturation

In this paper, an actuator robust fault‐tolerant control is proposed for ocean surface vessels with parametric uncertainties and unknown disturbances. Using the backstepping technique and Lyapunov synthesis method, the adaptive tracking control is first developed by incorporating the actuator configuration matrix and considering actuator saturation constraints. The changeable actuator configuration matrix caused by rotatable propulsion devices is considered. Next, the actuator fault‐tolerant control is developed for the case when faults occur in propulsion devices of the ocean surface vessel. Rigorous stability analysis is carried out to show that the proposed fault‐tolerant control can guarantee the stability of the closed‐loop system under certain actuator failure. Finally, simulation studies are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed adaptive tracking control and fault‐tolerant control. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cooperative path following of constrained autonomous vehicles with model predictive control and event‐triggered communications

We present a solution to the problem of multiple vehicle cooperative path following (CPF) that takes explicitly into account vehicle input constraints, the topology of the intervehicle communication network, and time‐varying communication delays. The objective is to steer a group of vehicles along given spatial paths, at speeds that may be path dependent, while holding a feasible geometric formation. The solution involves decoupling the original CPF problem into two subproblems: (i) single path following of input‐constrained vehicles and (ii) coordination of an input‐constrained multiagent system. The first is solved by adopting a sampled‐data model predictive control scheme, whereas the latter is tackled using a novel distributed control law with an event‐triggered communication (ETC) mechanism. The proposed strategy yields a closed‐loop CPF system that is input‐to‐state‐stable with respect to the system's state (consisting of the path following error of all vehicles and their coordination errors) and the system's input, which includes triggering thresholds for ETC communications and communication delays. Furthermore, with the proposed ETC mechanism, the number of communications among the vehicles are significantly reduced. Simulation examples of multiple autonomous vehicles executing CPF maneuvers in 2D under different communication scenarios illustrate the efficacy of the CPF strategy proposed.     

Adaptive neural integral sliding‐mode control for tracking control of fully actuated uncertain surface vessels

This paper develops a novel adaptive neural integral sliding‐mode control to enhance the tracking performance of fully actuated uncertain surface vessels. The proposed method is built based on an integrating between the benefits of the approximation capability of neural network (NN) and the high robustness and precision of the integral sliding‐mode control (ISMC). In this paper, the design of NN, which is used to approximate the unknown dynamics, is simplified such that just only one simple adaptive rule is needed. The ISMC, which can eliminate the reaching phase and offer higher tracking performance compared to the conventional sliding‐mode control, is designed such that the system robust against the approximation error and stabilize the whole system. The design procedure of the proposed controller is constructed according to the backstepping control technique so that the stability of the closed‐loop system is guaranteed based on Lyapunov criteria. The proposed method is then tested on a simulated vessel system using computer simulation and compared with other state‐of‐the‐art methods. The comparison results demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed approach.     

Cooperative observers and regulators for discrete‐time multiagent systems

This paper investigates the design of distributed observers for agents with identical linear discrete‐time state‐space dynamics networked on a directed graph interaction topology. The digraph is assumed to have fixed topology and contain a spanning tree. Cooperative observer design guaranteeing convergence of the estimates of all agents to their actual states is proposed. The notion of convergence region for distributed observers on graphs is introduced. It is shown that the proposed cooperative observer design has a robustness property. Application of cooperative observers is made to the synchronization problem. A command trajectory generator and pinning control are employed for synchronizing all the agents to a desired trajectory. Complete knowledge about the agent's state is not assumed. A duality principle is shown for observers and state feedback for distributed discrete‐time systems on graph topologies. Three different observer/controller architectures are proposed for dynamic output feedback regulator design, and they are shown to guarantee convergence of the estimate to the true state and synchronization of all the agents' states to the command state trajectory. This provides design methods for cooperative regulators based on a separation principle. It is shown that the observer convergence region and feedback control synchronizing region for discrete‐time systems are inherently bounded, so that the conditions for observer convergence and state synchronization are stricter than the results for the continuous‐time counterparts. This is in part remedied by using weighting of different feedback coupling gains for every agent. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fault‐tolerant leader‐follower formation control of marine surface vessels with unknown dynamics and actuator faults

This paper concentrates on the leader‐follower formation control problem for marine surface vessels with unknown nonlinear dynamics and actuator faults. The unknown inertia matrix and multiplicative fault render the existing methods infeasible. To solve this problem, a low‐complexity prescribed performance controller is first proposed without the help of auxiliary neural/fuzzy systems or adaptive mechanisms. A modification technique is further adopted to relax the initial condition, such that global closed‐loop stability is guaranteed. Finally, simulation results illustrate the above theoretical results.     

Cooperative adaptive control for synchronization of second‐order systems with unknown nonlinearities

This paper studies synchronization to a desired trajectory for multi‐agent systems with second‐order integrator dynamics and unknown nonlinearities and disturbances. The agents can have different dynamics and the treatment is for directed graphs with fixed communication topologies. The command generator or leader node dynamics is also nonlinear and unknown. Cooperative tracking adaptive controllers are designed based on each node maintaining a neural network parametric approximator and suitably tuning it to guarantee stability and performance. A Lyapunov‐based proof shows the ultimate boundedness of the tracking error. A simulation example with nodes having second‐order Lagrangian dynamics verifies the performance of the cooperative tracking adaptive controller. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Model‐free adaptive formation control for unknown multiinput‐multioutput nonlinear heterogeneous discrete‐time multiagent systems with bounded disturbance

Based on the model‐free adaptive control, the distributed formation control problem is investigated for a class of unknown heterogeneous nonlinear discrete‐time multiagent systems with bounded disturbance. Two equivalent data models to the unknown multiagent systems are established through the dynamic linearization technique considering the circumstances with measurable and unmeasurable disturbances. Based on the obtained data models, two distributed controllers are designed with only using the input/output and disturbance data of the neighbor agents system. The tracking error of the closed‐loop system driven by the proposed controllers is shown to be bounded by the contraction mapping principle and inductive methods. An example illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed two distributed controllers.     

Adaptive event‐triggered control for nonlinear discrete‐time systems

This paper focuses on the analysis and the design of event‐triggering scheme for discrete‐time systems. Both static event‐triggering scheme (SETS) and adaptive event‐triggering scheme (AETS) are presented for discrete‐time nonlinear and linear systems. What makes AETS different from SETS is that an auxiliary dynamic variable satisfying a certain difference equation is incorporated into the event‐triggering condition. The sufficient conditions of asymptotic stability of the closed‐loop event‐triggered control systems under both two triggering schemes are given. Especially, for the linear systems case, the minimum time between two consecutive control updates is discussed. Also, the quantitative relation among the system parameters, the preselected triggering parameters in AETS, and a quadratic performance index are established. Finally, the effectiveness and respective advantage of the proposed event‐triggering schemes are illustrated on a practical example. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

控制饱和约束下的自主水面船编队

针对含模型不确定与海洋环境干扰的自主水面船编队时的控制饱和约束问题,提出了一种基于广义饱和函数的编队控制算法.首先,采用虚拟领航–跟随编队策略,并基于反步法以及更为通用的广义饱和函数设计了编队控制器,突破了采用特定饱和函数的局限性.再针对自主水面船的特点,利用单隐层神经网络对模型不确定和海洋环境干扰进行了在线逼近.然后根据Lyapouv稳定性理论证明了闭环系统所有状态的有界性,并可通过选择合适的设计参数使跟踪误差为任意小.最后,通过对比仿真结果验证了本文所提出的抗饱和编队控制算法的有效性.     

Decentralized control of discrete‐time linear time invariant systems with input saturation

We study decentralized stabilization of discrete‐time linear time invariant (LTI) systems subject to actuator saturation using LTI controllers. The requirement of stabilization under both saturation constraints and decentralization imposes obvious necessary conditions on the open‐loop plant, namely that its eigenvalues are in the closed unit disc and further that the eigenvalues on the unit circle are not decentralized fixed modes. The key contribution of this work is to provide a broad sufficient condition for decentralized stabilization under saturation. Specifically, we show through an iterative argument that the stabilization is possible: whenever (1) the open‐loop eigenvalues are in the closed unit disc; (2) the eigenvalues on the unit circle are not decentralized fixed modes; and (3) these eigenvalues on the unit circle have algebraic multiplicity of 1. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new formation control of multiple underactuated surface vessels

This work investigates a new formation control problem of multiple underactuated surface vessels. The controller design is based on input-output linearisation technique, graph theory, consensus idea and some nonlinear tools. The proposed smooth time-varying distributed control law guarantees that the multiple underactuated surface vessels globally exponentially converge to some desired geometric shape, which is especially centred at the initial average position of vessels. Furthermore, the stability analysis of zero dynamics proves that the orientations of vessels tend to some constants that are dependent on the initial values of vessels, and the velocities and control inputs of the vessels decay to zero. All the results are obtained under the communication scenarios of static directed balanced graph with a spanning tree. Effectiveness of the proposed distributed control scheme is demonstrated using a simulation example.     

Fault‐tolerant path‐following control for in‐wheel‐motor‐driven autonomous ground vehicles with differential steering

Over the past several decades, the automobile industry has denoted significant research efforts to developing in‐wheel‐motor‐driven autonomous ground vehicles (IWM‐AGVs) with active front‐wheel steering. One of the most fundamental issues for IWM‐AGVs is path following, which is important for automated driving to ensure that the vehicle can track a target‐planned path during local navigation. However, the path‐following task may fail if the system experiences a stuck fault in the active front‐wheel steering. In this paper, a fault‐tolerant control (FTC) strategy is presented for the path following of IWM‐AGVs in the presence of a stuck fault in the active front‐wheel steering. For this purpose, differential steering is used to generate differential torque between the left and right wheels in IWM‐AGVs, and an adaptive triple‐step control approach is applied to realize coordinated lateral and longitudinal path‐following maneuvering. The parameter uncertainties for the cornering stiffness and external disturbances are considered to make the vehicles robust to different driving environments. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme is evaluated with a high‐fidelity and full‐car model based on the veDYNA‐Simulink joint platform.     

Observer‐based output feedback control of discrete‐time Luré systems with sector‐bounded slope‐restricted nonlinearities

Many well studied classes of dynamical systems such as actuator‐constrained linear systems and dynamic artificial neural networks can be written as discrete‐time Luré systems with sector‐bounded and/or slope‐restricted nonlinearities. Two types of observer‐based output feedback control design methods are presented, compared, and analyzed with regard to robustness to model uncertainties and insensitivity to output disturbances. The controller designs are formulated in terms of LMIs that are solvable with standard software. The design equations are illustrated in numerical examples. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Adaptive control and constrained control allocation for overactuated ocean surface vessels

In this article, the constrained control allocation is proposed for overactuated ocean surface vessels with parametric uncertainties and unknown external disturbances. The constrained control allocation is transformed into a convex quadratic programming problem and a recurrent neural network is employed to solve it. To complete the control allocation, the control command is derived via the backstepping method. Adaptive tracking control is proposed for the full-state feedback case using the backstepping technique and the Lyapunov synthesis. It is proved that the proposed adaptive tracking control is able to guarantee semi-global uniform ultimate boundedness of all signals in the closed-loop system. Then, the obtained control command is distributed to each actuator of overactuated ocean vessels. Finally, simulation studies are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed adaptive tracking control and the constrained control allocation scheme.     

Model reference adaptive control of discrete‐time piecewise linear systems

This article presents a switched model reference adaptive controller for discrete‐time piecewise linear systems. In the spirit of the work by Landau in the late seventies, proof of asymptotic stability of the closed‐loop error system is obtained, recasting its dynamics as a feedback system and showing the feedforward and the feedback paths are both passive. The challenge is that both paths can be piecewise linear. Numerical results show excellent performance of the proposed controller even in the face of sudden variations of the plant parameters. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Decentralized adaptive consensus control for discrete‐time heterogeneous semiparametric multiagent systems

Different from the consensus control of traditional multiagent systems, this paper studies the decentralized adaptive consensus control for discrete‐time heterogeneous hidden leader‐following semiparametric multiagent system, in which the dynamic equation of each agent has both parametric uncertainties and nonparametric uncertainties. In the considered system, there is a hidden leader agent who can receive the reference signal, but it can only affect the states of those agents who are in its neighborhood. For other following agents, they do not know the leader's existence or the reference signal, and they can only receive information from their neighbors. Our goal is to design decentralized adaptive controllers to make sure that all agents can track the reference signal, and the closed‐loop system achieves consensus in the presence of mutual coupling relations. Due to the existence of both parametric and nonparametric uncertainties in the system, we need to estimate them separately. For the parametric part, we propose a novel dead zone with threshold converging to zero to modify the traditional gradient update law, while for the nonparametric part, we introduce an auxiliary variable including both two uncertainties to facilitate the nonparametric uncertainties compensation. Based on the certainty equivalence principle in adaptive control theory, the decentralized adaptive controller is designed for each agent to make sure that all of them can track the reference signal. Finally, under the proposed control protocol, strict mathematical proofs are given by using Lyapunov theory; then, simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of proposed decentralized adaptive controllers.     

Cooperative containment of discrete‐time linear multi‐agent systems

This paper investigates the cooperative containment control problem for discrete‐time multi‐agent systems with general linear dynamics. Distributed containment control protocols on the basis of state feedback design and output feedback design are proposed. Necessary and sufficient conditions are presented for both the state feedback and output feedback cases, which are less conservative than those in the literature. These conditions depend on the spectral properties of the topology matrix. Then, effective algorithms are proposed to obtain control gain matrices for both cases based on H _∞ type Riccati design. Simulation examples are provided finally to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed design methods. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.