Stabilization of multi-AUV formation with digital control

Formation stability problem for a team of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) with digital control is investigated. A leader-follower formation control algorithm for multi-AUV system is proposed. Feedback control signal for the follower, which is piecewise constant, is computed on the basis of discrete measurements of the distance and the bearing angle to the leader. A discrete observer for estimation of the derivatives of the distance and the bearing angle are used to improve the control performance. The parameters of the controller and observer are synthesized using a digital control system design method based on the vector Lyapunov functions that allows one to take into account the uncertainties of the plant, measurement errors, and control constraints. Numerical simulations are carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.