Behaviour-Based Formation Control Of Multi-AUV

AUV is increasingly becoming an important tool for the explorationand exploitation of marine resources. Compared to a single yet complex andexpensive AUV, the multi-AUV system composed of a group ofsimple-structured and low-cost individuals can deal with some complicatedtasks by coordination. However, the special working environment bringsgreat challenges for the study of the coordinated control of the multipleAUV’s. The underwater acoustic communication unreliability (accidentalfailure) and large time delay bring certain difficulty to AUV coordination,and the complex dynamics of the AUV shoud also be stressed.This paper analyzes the characteristics of the present multi-AUVcontrol system structure. A formation control algorithm for multi-AUVsystems with uniform communication delay is proposed based on thesecond-order consensus strategy by feeding postion back. According to theNyquist stability criterion, synthesis of control parameters with bothdelay-dependent and delay-independent formation stabilities is presented.Preliminary validation of the proposed formation control algorithm isconducted on a model of a micro aerial vehicle under different delays.Applications on two types of AUV simulation models also verify theeffectiveness of the proposed algorithm and the stability criteria.To meet the requirements of the theoretical research, preliminarydesign and development of embedded control software under QNXReal-time Operation System for the small AUV is conducted. Consideringthe function requirements modules such as Motion Control, Depth Limit,Collision Avoidance, Acoustic Communication and Underwater Positioningare defined and developed, which lays the foundation of further experimental study on multi-AUV system technology.