A leader–follower formation control approach for target hunting by multiple autonomous underwater vehicle in three-dimensional underwater environments

Xiang Cao,Liqiang Guo

doi:10.1177/1729881419870664

Abstract

As one of the challenging tasks of multiple autonomous underwater vehicles systems, the realization of target hunting is the great significance. The multiple autonomous underwater vehicle target hunting is studied in this article. In some research, because the hunting members cannot reach the hunting point at the same time, the hunting time is long or the target escapes. To improve the efficiency of the target hunting, the leader–follower formation algorithm is introduced. Firstly, the task is assigned based on the distance between the autonomous underwater vehicle and the target. Then, the autonomous underwater vehicles with the same task are formed based on leader–follower mode, and the formation is kept to track the target. In the final capture phase, multiple autonomous underwater vehicle system use angle matching algorithm to round up target. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can effectively accomplish the target hunting task, save the hunting time, and avoid the target escape. Compared with the bioinspired neural network algorithm, the proposed algorithm shows better performance.

Highlights

As the complexity of underwater missions increases, it is difficult for a single autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to complete the task.[1,2]
The results of the simulation experiments in the “Formation control simulation” and “Target hunting simulation” sections show that the proposed approach can satisfy the cooperative hunting task by multiple AUVs under 3-D underwater environments
This article studies the multi-AUV collaborative target hunting in the 3-D underwater environments and proposes a target hunting method based on leader–follower formation

Summary

Introduction

As the complexity of underwater missions increases, it is difficult for a single autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to complete the task.[1,2] Multi-AUV collaboration has become a hot topic of research. To complete multi-AUV collaborative target hunting in a 3-D underwater environments, some key issues need to be addressed, including task assignment, leader–follower formation, and target capture. Since the initial position of the AUV is arbitrarily set, the following AUV can adjust its position in real time according to the kinematic formation control law, gradually form the desired formation control formation, and maintain the desired formation during the AUV navigation It can be seen from the simulation of the formation control that the methods mentioned in this article have realized the linear navigation V-type formation control. The proposed algorithm can effectively accomplish the single target hunting in the 3-D underwater environments. The simulation results show that the AUV system based on the proposed algorithm has good cooperation and can complete the hunting of multiple targets in time

Discussion

Conclusion