Distributed predictive formation control for autonomous underwater vehicles under dynamic switching topology

Abstract

Numerous existing autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) formation control works have focused on the preconfigured communication topology. However, the complex marine environment reveals the limitations and unreliability of the fix topology scheme. In this paper, the formation control of AUVs is investigated under dynamic switching topology. In order to realize this objective, the 2-D Delaunay triangulation and Jaccard index are introduced. A formation control system based on intermittent broadcast, rather than the traditional distributed control system, is established based on a leader-follower strategy. During the process of formation moving, the input constraints, vehicle collision avoidance and input saturation needed to be noted. To this end, the model predictive control algorithm is employed to design the formation controller, and the stability of the formation control system is proved by the average residence time notion and Lyapunov stability. The numerical simulations are exhibited to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed formation control schemes in connectivity preservation and formation generation.