Potential function-based path-following control of an autonomous underwater vehicle in an obstacle-rich environment

Abstract

This paper presents the development of simple but powerful path-following and obstacle-avoidance control laws for an underactuated autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). Potential function-based proportional derivative (PFPD) as well as a potential function-based augmented proportional derivative (PFAPD) control laws are developed to govern the motion of the AUV in an obstacle-rich environment. For obstacle avoidance, a mathematical potential function is used, which formulates the repulsive force between the AUV and the solid obstacles intersecting the desired path. Numerical simulations are carried out to study the efficacy of the proposed controllers and the results are observed. To reduce the values of the overshoots and steady-state errors identified due to the application of PFPD controller a PFAPD controller is designed that drives the AUV along the desired trajectory. From the simulation results, it is observed that the proposed controllers are able to drive the AUV to track the desired path, avoiding the obstacles in an obstacle-rich environment. The results are compared and it is observed that the PFAPD outperforms the PFPD to drive the AUV along the desired trajectory. It is also proved that it is not necessary to employ highly complicated controllers for solving obstacle-avoidance and path-following problems of underactuated AUVs. These problems can be solved with the application of PFAPD controllers.

Keywords

Lyapunov’s stability criterion obstacle avoidance path following potential function underactuated AUV

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Beard

Lawton

Hadaegh

(2001) A coordination architecture for spacecraft formation control. IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology 9: 777–790.

Hongge

. (2009) Path planning and tracking for autonomous underwater vehicles. In: Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Information and Automation, Zhuhai/Macau, China, pp. 728–733.

Caharija

Pettersen

Gravdahl

. (2012) Path following of underactuated autonomous underwater vehicles in the presence of ocean currents. In: IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Maui, HI, pp. 528–535.

Fossen

(1994) Guidance and Control of Ocean Vehicles. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Garau

Bonet

Alvarez

. (2009) Path planning for autonomous underwater vehicles in realistic oceanic current fields: application to gliders in the western Mediterranean sea. Journal of Maritime Research 6(2): 5–22.

Ghommam

Calvo

Rozenfeld

(2008) A Coordinated path following for multiple underactuated AUVs. In: Oceans MTS/IEEE Kobe Techno-Ocean, pp. 1–7.

Gomariz

Masmitja

González

. (2014) GUANAY-II: an autonomous underwater vehicle for vertical/horizontal sampling. Journal of Marine Science and Technology 19(1): 1–13.

(2008) Using fuzzy logic to design separation function in flocking algorithms. IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems 16(4): 826–838.

Wang

(2009) Leader–follower flocking: algorithms and experiments. IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology 17(5): 1211–1219.

10.

Guo

(2008) Mooring cable tracking using active vision for a biomimetic autonomous underwater vehicle. Journal of Marine Science and Technology 13(2): 147–153.

11.

Huang

Zhu

Ding

(2014) Dynamic task assignment and path planning for multi-AUV system in variable ocean current environment. Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems 74(3): 999–1012.

12.

Ismail

Mokhar

Dunnigan

(2012) Tracking control for an autonomous underwater vehicle based on multiplicative potential energy function. Proceedings, IEEE Oceans, Yeosu, pp. 1–6.

13.

Kelly

Davila

Loria

(2005) Proportional control plus velocity feedback and PD control. Journal of Control of Robot Manipulators in Joint Space, 141–156.

14.

Khatib

(1986) Real-time obstacle avoidance for manipulators and mobile robots. The International Journal of Robotics Research 5(1): 90–98.

15.

Kim

Lee

Park

. (2009) Path tracking control for underactuated AUVs based on resolved motion acceleration control. In: International Conference on: Autonomous Robots and Agents, pp. 342–346.

16.

Kruger

Stolkin

Blum

. (2007) Optimal AUV path planning for extended missions in complex, fast-flowing estuarine environments. In: IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Rome, Italy, pp. 4265–4270.

17.

Lee

(2014) A new hybrid terrain coverage method for underwater robotic exploration. Journal of Marine Science and Technology 19(1): 75–89.

18.

Murray

Sastry

(1994) A Mathematical Introduction to Robotic Manipulation. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

19.

Peymanin

Fossen

(2014) Path following of underwater robots using Lagrange multipliers. Robotics and Autonomous Systems, accepted manuscript, https://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1016/j.robot.2014.10.0112014.

20.

Repoulias

Papadopoulos

(2007) Planar trajectory planning and tracking control design for underactuated AUVs. Ocean Engineering 34(11): 1650–1667.

21.

Sahu

Subudhi

(2014) Adaptive tracking control of an autonomous underwater vehicle. International Journal of Automation and Computing 11(3): 299–307.

22.

Sahu

Subudhi

Dash

(2012) Flocking control of multiple autonomous underwater vehicles. In: 2012 Annual IEEE India Conference (INDICON), Kochi, 7–9 December, pp. 257–262.

23.

Scharf

Hadaegh

Ploen

(2003) A survey of spacecraft formation flying guidance and control (part I): Guidance. In: Proceedings, American Control Conference2(1): 1733–1739.

24.

Slotine

JJE

(1991) Applied Nonlinear Control, Vol. 199, No. 1. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

25.

Stilwell

Bishop

(2000) Platoons of underwater vehicles. IEEE Control Systems Magazine 20: 45–52.

26.

Sun

Zhu

Ding

. (2013) A novel tracking control approach for unmanned underwater vehicles based on bio-inspired neurodynamics. Journal of Marine Science and Technology 18(1): 63–74.

27.

Wang

Zhang

Schaefer

(2014) Dynamic modeling of an autonomous underwater vehicle. Journal of Marine Science and Technology 19(3): 1–14.

28.

Williams

(2010) On optimal AUV track-spacing for underwater mine detection. In: IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Anchorage, AK, pp. 4755–4762.

29.

Xia

Ying

Guang

(2013) Path-following in 3D for underactuated AUV in the presence of ocean current. In: 5th IEEE International Conference on Measuring Technology and Mechatronics Automation, Hong Kong, pp. 788–791.

30.

Xiang

Lapierre

Liu

. (2011) Path tracking: combined path following and trajectory tracking for autonomous underwater vehicles. In: IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, San Francisco, CA, pp. 3558–3563.

31.

Zeng

Sammut

Lammas

. (2014) Efficient path re-planning for AUVs operating in spatiotemporal currents. Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems1–19, doi: 10.1007/s10846–014–0104-z.

32.

Zhao

Zhu

(2011) A bio-inspired kinematic model of AUV tracking control for ocean current. In: IEEE International Conference on Computer Science and Automation Engineering, Shanghai, China, pp. 478–482.