Prediction-Based Region Tracking Control Scheme for Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

Abstract

This paper addresses the region tracking control problem for an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) and proposes a prediction-based region tracking control (PRTC) scheme for AUV. In the PRTC scheme, the idea of prediction is adopted to solve the problems of overshoot and high energy consumption due to the lack of consideration of the large inertia of the AUV in the traditional scheme. The PRTC scheme predicts the future position of AUV through the past time-series position of AUV and the outer boundary of the desired region, and then designs the controller depending on the predicted results. Furthermore, the relationship between the desired region and the control output of the proposed PRTC scheme is studied. It is found that its control output amplitude is susceptible to the desired region range, resulting in output saturation. Therefore, this paper proposes a control law optimization scheme considering the desired region. This optimization scheme modifies the error signal in the control law of the PRTC scheme so that it is only related to the relative position of the desired region where the AUV is located. Finally, the proposed schemes are applied on the ODIN AUV, and the simulation results verify the feasibility of the proposed schemes.