Global Adaptive Neural Network Control of Underactuated Autonomous Underwater Vehicles with Parametric Modeling Uncertainty

This paper focuses on global adaptive neural network control for a class of underactuated autonomous underwater vehicles in the presence of possibly large modeling parametric uncertainty. As the control inputs cannot directly act in the sway and heave directions, two virtual velocities defined here, plus three actual control actions provided by the thrusters and rudders, are used to achieve the convergence of the system errors to around zero. Motivated by real‐time characteristics in the trajectory tracking, the proposed controller presents a significant advantage because it contains only one adaptive parameter to be updated online rather than the neural network weights. In addition, we also consider the practical situation that the velocities of the vehicle may experience sharp speed jumps when the position tracking errors initially change suddenly, which always results in thruster saturation. The biologically inspired model is introduced to smooth the virtual velocity commands such that the vehicle satisfies the control input and velocity constraints. Finally, comparison simulations are given to show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.     

Path-Following Control With Obstacle Avoidance of Autonomous Surface Vehicles Subject to Actuator Faults

This paper investigates the path-following control problem with obstacle avoidance of autonomous surface vehicles in the presence of actuator faults, uncertainty and external disturbances. Autonomous surface vehicles inevitably suffer from actuator faults in complex sea environments, which may cause existing obstacle avoidance strategies to fail. To reduce the influence of actuator faults, an improved artificial potential function is constructed by introducing the lower bound of actuator efficie...     

欠驱动自主水面船的非线性路径跟踪控制

基于级联方法提出一种欠驱动自主水面船的全局K指数稳定路径跟踪控制算法.采用以自由路径参考点为原点的Serret-Frenet坐标系建立路径跟踪误差的动态模型,以路径参数的变化率为附加控制输入,克服了以正交投影点为坐标原点时的奇异值问题.设计路径跟踪航向角指令,将路径跟踪模型分解为位置跟踪子系统和航向角、前向速度跟踪子系统两个子系统级联的形式,设计航向角和前向速度的全局指数稳定跟踪控制器,应用级联系统理论证明了路径跟踪误差的全局K指数稳定性.数学仿真和自主水面船湖上实验结果验证了该路径跟踪控制算法的有效性.     

Adaptive Predefined-Time Optimal Tracking Control for Underactuated Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

<正>Dear Editor,This letter concentrated on the adaptive predefined-time optimal tracking control for underactuated autonomous underwater vehicles(AUVs).According to adaptive dynamic programming (ADP) with actor-critic neural networks (NNs),by constructing a novel barriertype cost function,an adaptive predefined-time optimal constraint control approach was developed.With the help of predefined-time stability theory via tanh(·) function,the developed control approach could ensure all state e...     

Path Following of Underactuated Autonomous Surface Vessels With Surge Velocity Constraint and Asymmetric Saturation

<正>Dear Editor, This letter is concerned with the path following of underactuated autonomous surface vessels(ASV) in the presence of surge velocity constraint and asymmetric saturation as well as unknown dynamics.To cope with velocity constraints both magnitude and rate and asymmetric saturation as well as unknown dynamics, an adaptive finitetime sliding mode control scheme(AFTSM) is designed.     

Globally Stable Adaptive Dynamic Surface Control for Cooperative Path Following of Multiple Underactuated Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

The cooperative path following problem of multiple underactuated autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) involves two tasks. The first one is to force each AUV to converge to the desired parameterized path. The second one is to satisfy the requirement of a cooperative behavior along the paths. In this paper, both of the tasks have been further studied. For the first one, a simplified path following controller is proposed by incorporating the dynamic surface control (DSC) technique to avoid the calculation of derivatives of virtual control signals. Besides, in order to handle the uncertain dynamics, a new type of neural network (NN) adaptive controller is derived, and then an NN based energy‐efficient path following controller is firstly proposed, which consists of an adaptive neural controller dominating in the neural active region and an extra robust controller working outside the neural active region. For the second one, in order to reduce the amount of communications between multiple AUVs, a distributed estimator for the reference common speed is firstly proposed as determined by the communications topology adopted, which means the global knowledge of the reference speed is relaxed for the problem of cooperative path following. The overall algorithm ensures that all the signals in the closed‐loop system are globally uniformly ultimately bounded (GUUB) and the output of the system converges to a small neighborhood of the reference trajectory by properly choosing the design parameters. Simulation results validate the performance and robustness of the proposed strategy.     

Cooperative Control of Dynamical Systems With Application to Autonomous Vehicles

In this paper, a new framework based on matrix theory is proposed to analyze and design cooperative controls for a group of individual dynamical systems whose outputs are sensed by or communicated to others in an intermittent, dynamically changing, and local manner. In the framework, sensing/communication is described mathematically by a time-varying matrix whose dimension is equal to the number of dynamical systems in the group and whose elements assume piecewise-constant and binary values. Dynamical systems are generally heterogeneous and can be transformed into a canonical form of different, arbitrary, but finite relative degrees. Utilizing a set of new results on augmentation of irreducible matrices and on lower triangulation of reducible matrices, the framework allows a designer to study how a general local-and-output-feedback cooperative control can determine group behaviors of the dynamical systems and to see how changes of sensing/communication would impact the group behaviors over time. A necessary and sufficient condition on convergence of a multiplicative sequence of reducible row-stochastic (diagonally positive) matrices is explicitly derived, and through simple choices of a gain matrix in the cooperative control law, the overall closed-loop system is shown to exhibit cooperative behaviors (such as single group behavior, multiple group behaviors, adaptive cooperative behavior for the group, and cooperative formation including individual behaviors). Examples, including formation control of nonholonomic systems in the chained form, are used to illustrate the proposed framework.     

双吊具欠驱动桥吊的建模与仿真

较之于传统的单吊具桥吊,双起升双吊具桥吊是一种新型高效集装箱装卸机械,但其本质上是一类复杂的欠驱动非线性系统,其建模和控制方法存在较大难度。利用拉格朗日分析方法和仿真手段对双起升双吊具桥吊的动力学特性进行了研究,分析了吊绳长度和负载变化对桥吊动态特性的影响,以及作业环境中的摩擦力和空气阻力对模型特性的影响;建立了双起升双吊具桥吊的动力学模型,并进行了简化。最后,仿真研究为验证双起升双吊具桥吊的动力学模型的正确性提供了依据。     

Observer-Based Path Tracking Controller Design for Autonomous Ground Vehicles With Input Saturation

This paper investigates the problem of path tracking control for autonomous ground vehicles(AGVs),where the input saturation,system nonlinearities and uncertainties are considered.Firstly,the nonlinear path tracking system is formulated as a linear parameter varying(LPV) model where the variation of vehicle velocity is taken into account.Secondly,considering the noise effects on the measurement of lateral offset and heading angle,an observer-based control strategy is proposed,and by analyzing th...     

Exponential Set-Point Stabilization of Underactuated Vehicles Moving in Three-Dimensional Space

This paper investigates the stabilization of underactuated vehicles moving in a three-dimensional vector space.The vehicle’s model is established on the matrix Lie group SE(3),which describes the configuration of rigid bodies globally and uniquely.We focus on the kinematic model of the underactuated vehicle,which features an underactuation form that has no sway and heave velocity.To compensate for the lack of these two velocities,we construct additional rotation matrices to generate a motion of rotation coupled with translation.Then,the state feedback is designed with the help of the logarithmic map,and we prove that the proposed control law can exponentially stabilize the underactuated vehicle to the identity group element with an almost global domain of attraction.Later,the presented control strategy is extended to set-point stabilization in the sense that the underactuated vehicle can be stabilized to an arbitrary desired configuration specified in advance.Finally,simulation examples are provided to verify the effectiveness of the stabilization controller.     

欠驱动旋转双摆系统的建模与仿真

研究倒立摆控制问题,针对旋转双摆系统这一新颖的欠驱动机械系统,而旋转双摆系统是由一个驱动的旋转臂和两个未驱动的旋转摆杆组成,选取驱动臂和两个摆杆的旋转角度作为系统的广义坐标,系统存在不稳定平衡点.为对系统进行稳定性控制,采用拉格朗日方程的方法建立了其动力学模型并总结了系统模型的特殊性质.为了便于进行稳定控制器的设计,给出了近似条件下旋转双摆系统的线性化.对动力学模型进行了仿真实验,仿真结果表明实现了系统的稳定性控制,说明了模型的有效性.     

A Control Approach for Thrust-Propelled Underactuated Vehicles and its Application to VTOL Drones

A control approach is proposed for a class of underactuated vehicles in order to stabilize reference trajectories either in thrust direction, velocity, or position. The basic modeling assumption is that the vehicle is pro-pulsed via a thrust force along a single body-fixed direction and that it has full torque actuation for attitude control (i.e., a typical actuation structure for aircrafts, vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) vehicles, submarines, etc.). Additional assumptions on the external forces applied to the vehicle are also introduced for the sake of control design and stability analyses. They are best satisfied for vehicles which are subjected to an external force field (e.g., gravity) and whose shape induces lift forces with limited amplitude, unlike airplanes but as in the case of many VTOL drones. The interactions of the vehicle with the surrounding fluid are often difficult to model precisely whereas they may significantly influence and perturb its motion. By using a standard Lyapunov-based approach, novel nonlinear feedback control laws are proposed to compensate for modeling errors and perform robustly against such perturbations. Simulation results illustrating these properties on a realistic model of a VTOL drone subjected to wind gusts are reported.     

AUV自主导航航位推算算法的分析研究

对AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle)自主导航的航位推算算法做了进一步研究并加以改进，以提高其自主导航精度．然后，利用AUV湖试所获得的数据，对本文提出的修正算法进行了验证．结果表明， AUV的自主导航精度得到很大提高，可以用于修正原来的自主导航算法．     

Investigations on the Hybrid Tracking Control of an Underactuated Autonomous Underwater Robot

The problem of trajectory tracking control of an underactuated autonomous underwater robot (AUR) in a three-dimensional (3-D) space is investigated in this paper. The control of an underactuated robot is different from fully actuated robots in many aspects. In particular, these robot systems do not satisfy Brockett's necessary condition for feedback stabilization and no continuous time-invariant state feedback control law exists that makes a specified equilibrium of the closed-loop system asymptotically stable. The uncertainty of hydrodynamic parameters, along with the coupled, nonlinear dynamics of the underwater robot, also makes the navigation and tracking control a difficult task. The proposed hybrid control law is developed by combining sliding mode control (SMC) and classical proportional–integral–derivative (PID) control methods to reduce the tracking errors arising out of disturbances, as well as variations in vehicle parameters like buoyancy. Here, a trajectory planner computes the body-fixed linear and angular velocities, as well as vehicle orientations corresponding to a given 3-D inertial trajectory, which yields a feasible 6-d.o.f. trajectory. This trajectory is used to compute the control signals for the three available controllable inputs by the hybrid controller. A supervisory controller is used to switch between the SMC and PID control as per a predefined switching law. The switching function parameters are optimized using Taguchi design techniques. The effectiveness and performance of the proposed controller is investigated by comparing numerically with classical SMC and traditional linear control systems in the presence of disturbances. Numerical simulations using the full set of nonlinear equations of motion show that the controller does quite well in dealing with the plant nonlinearity and parameter uncertainties for trajectory tracking. The proposed controller response shows less tracking error without the usually present control chattering. Some practical features of this control law are also discussed.     

基于滤波反步法的欠驱动AUV三维路径跟踪控制

研究了欠驱动自主水下航行器 (Autonomous underwater vehicle, AUV)的三维空间路径跟踪控制问题.针对基于虚拟向导建立的三维路径跟踪误差模型, 采用滤波反步法设计跟踪控制器,通过二阶滤波过程获得虚拟控制量的导数, 避免了直接对虚拟控制量解析求导的复杂过程, 同时滤除了高频测量噪声, 增加了系统对噪声的鲁棒性.通过设计滤波误差补偿回路, 保证了滤波信号对虚拟控制量的逼近精度.基于李雅普诺夫稳定性理论设计鲁棒项, 保证了闭环跟踪误差系统状态的渐近稳定.仿真结果表明了该控制器对噪声干扰具有一定的鲁棒性, 能够实现对三维路径的精确跟踪.     

Kinematic Control of Platoons of Autonomous Vehicles

In this paper, an approach to control the motion of a platoon of autonomous vehicles is presented. The proposed technique is based on the definition of suitable task functions that are handled in the framework of singularity-robust task-priority inverse kinematics. The algorithm is implemented by a two-stage control architecture such that intervehicle communication is not required. The effectiveness of the approach is investigated by means of numerical simulation case studies     

Perception and Planning Architecture for Autonomous Ground Vehicles

By combining smart sensors and traversability grids with a JAUS-based component and messaging architecture, DARPA Grand Challenge finalist team CIMAR quickly developed a robust autonomous ground vehicle (AGV), a custom-built off-road vehicle. Key components included six smart sensors for detecting environmental conditions and reporting a priori data, a smart arbiter for fusing data from multiple smart sensors, and a reactive driver for providing real-time navigation planning and obstacle avoidance     

Parametric Synthesis of Failure-Free Control Algorithms under Uncertainty

Enhancement of the stability of automatic digital control systems under disturbances is investigated. Guaranteeing algorithmic redundancy with regard for the inconsistency between the duration and complete renewal of the operative state is studied. A method of designing failure-free control algorithms under uncertain information on reliability indexes is elaborated.