Leader-Following Entrapping Control of AUVs Using Bearing Measurements in Local Coordinate Frames

Abstract

In this paper, the entrapping control problem of discrete-time AUVs with local coordinate frames is studied. To achieve entrapment in arbitrarily shaped orbits and formations, we design a bearing-based leader-following framework fully in the discrete-time domain with four parts: the orientation estimation unit, estimator unit, controller unit and parameters tuning unit. With bearing measurements and communication information, the orientation estimation unit can estimate orientations of local coordinate frames in finite time, and the estimator unit can achieve local localization. Based on estimation, the controller unit can drive each AUV to track the desired orbit or formation with an arbitrary shape. We present sufficient conditions under which stability of the overall system is proved using the theorem of finite-time stability and LaSalle’s theorem for the discrete-time system. Moreover, the parameters tuning unit can calculate optimal parameters to improve overall performance. Additionally, we extend our schemes to nonholonomic AUVs with unicycle models. Finally, simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.