Consensus of multiple autonomous underwater vehicles with double independent Markovian switching topologies and timevarying delays

A new method in which the consensus algorithm is used to solve the coordinate control problems of leaderless multiple autonomous underwater vehicles（multi-AUVs） with double independent Markovian switching communication topologies and time-varying delays among the underwater sensors is investigated.This is accomplished by first dividing the communication topology into two different switching parts,i.e.,velocity and position,to reduce the data capacity per data package sent between the multi-AUVs in the ocean.Then,the state feedback linearization is used to simplify and rewrite the complex nonlinear and coupled mathematical model of the AUVs into a double-integrator dynamic model.Consequently,coordinate control of the multi-AUVs is regarded as an approximating consensus problem with various time-varying delays and velocity and position topologies.Considering these factors,sufficient conditions of consensus control are proposed and analyzed and the stability of the multi-AUVs is proven by Lyapunov-Krasovskii theorem.Finally,simulation results that validate the theoretical results are presented.

Parallel Neural Network-Based Motion Controller for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

A parallel neural network-based controller （PNNC） is presented for the motion control of underwater vehicles in this paper. It consists of a real-time part, a self-learning part and a desired-state programmer, and it is different from normal adaptive neural network controller in structure. Owing to the introduction of the self-learning part, on-line learning can be performed without sample data in several sample periods, resulting in high learning speed of the controller and good control performance. The desired-state programmer is utilized to obtain better learning samples of the neural network to keep the stability of the controller. The developed controller is applied to the 4-degree of freedom control of the AUV “IUV- IV” and is successful on the simulation platform. The control performance is also compared with that of neural network controller with different structures such as normal adaptive neural network and different learning methods. Current effects and surge velocity control are also included to demonstrate the controller＇ s performance. It is shown that the PNNC has a great possibility to solve the problems in the control system design of underwater vehicles.

Application of GA, PSO, and ACO Algorithms to Path Planning of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

In this paper, an underwater vehicle was modeled with six dimensional nonlinear equations of motion, controlled by DC motors in all degrees of freedom. Near-optimal trajectories in an energetic environment for underwater vehicles were computed using a nnmerical solution of a nonlinear optimal control problem （NOCP）. An energy performance index as a cost function, which should be minimized, was defmed. The resulting problem was a two-point boundary value problem （TPBVP）. A genetic algorithm （GA）, particle swarm optimization （PSO）, and ant colony optimization （ACO） algorithms were applied to solve the resulting TPBVP. Applying an Euler-Lagrange equation to the NOCP, a conjugate gradient penalty method was also adopted to solve the TPBVP. The problem of energetic environments, involving some energy sources, was discussed. Some near-optimal paths were found using a GA, PSO, and ACO algorithms. Finally, the problem of collision avoidance in an energetic environment was also taken into account.

A nonlinear bottom-following controller for underactuated autonomous underwater vehicles

The bottom-following problem for underactuated autonomous underwater vehicles （AUV） was addressed by a new type of nonlinear decoupling control law. The vertical bottom-following error and pitch angle error are stabilized by means of the stem plane, and the thruster is left to stabilize the longitudinal bottom-following error and forward speed. In order to better meet the need of engineering applications, working characteristics of the actuators were sufficiently considered to design the proposed controller. Different from the traditional method, the methodology used to solve the problem is generated by AUV model without a reference orientation, and it deals explicitly with vehicle dynamics and the geometric characteristics of the desired tracking bottom curve. The estimation of systemic uncertainties and disturbances and the pitch velocity PE （persistent excitation） conditions are not required. The stability analysis is given by Lyapunov theorem. Simulation results of a full nonlinear hydrodynamic AUV model are provided to validate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed controller.

Analysis and innovation of key technologies for autonomous underwater vehicles

As the mission needs of the autonomous underwater vehicles(AUV) have become increasingly varied and complex,the AUVs are developing in the direction of systematism, multifunction, and clustering technology, which promotes the progress of key technologies and proposes a series of technical problems. Therefore, it is necessary to make systemic analysis and in-depth study for the progress of AUV's key technologies and innovative applications. The multi-functional mission needs and its key technologies involved in complex sea conditions are pointed out through analyzing the domestic and foreign technical programs, functional characteristics and future development plans. Furthermore, the overall design of a multi-moving state AUV is proposed. Then, technical innovations of the key technologies, such as thrust vector, propeller design, kinematics and dynamics, navigation control, and ambient flow field characteristics, are made, combining with the structural characteristics and motion characteristics of the new multi-moving state AUV. The results verify the good performance of the multi-moving state AUV and provide a theoretical guidance and technical support for the design of new AUV in real complex sea conditions.

Tracking Control of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles with Internal Moving Mass

追踪轨道的控制问题被调查为一自治在水下作为致动器用一个内部点团和一个后面的推进器搬到垂直飞机的车辆(AUV ) 。与点团的动力学结合了， AUV 作为一个 underactuated 系统被建模。一个基于 Lyapunov 的追踪控制器被使用 backstepping 途径稳定错误动力学并且强迫位置错误到起源的一位小邻居建议。模拟结果验证建议追踪的途径。

Three-dimensional neural network tracking control of autonomous underwater vehicles with input saturation

This paper addresses the problem of three-dimensional trajectory tracking control for underactuated autonomous underwater vehicles in the presence of parametric uncertainties,environmental disturbances and input saturation.First,a virtual guidance control strategy is established on the basis of tracking error kinematics,which resolves the overall control system into two cascade subsystems.Then,a first-order sliding mode differentiator is introduced in the derivation to avoid tedious analytic calculation,and a Gaussian error function-based continuous differentiable symmetric saturation model is explored to tackle the issue of input saturation.Combined with backstepping design techniques,the neural network control method and an adaptive control approach are used to estimate composite items of the unknown uncertainty and approximation errors.Meanwhile,Lyapunov-based stability analysis guarantees that control error signals of the closed-loop system are uniformly ultimately bounded.Finally,simulation studies are conducted for the trajectory tracking of a moving target and a spiral line to validate the effectiveness of the proposed controller.

Innovative design and motion mechanism analysis for a multi-moving state autonomous underwater vehicles

In order to achieve the functional requirements of multi-moving state, a new autonomous underwater vehicle(AUV) provided with the functions such as the submarine vectorial thrust, landing on the sea bottom, wheel driving on the ground and crawling on the ground was designed. Then five new theories and methods were proposed about the motion mechanism of the AUV such as vectorial thruster technology, design of a new wheel propeller, kinematics and dynamics, navigation control and the ambient flow field in complex sea conditions, which can all conquer conventional technique shortages and predict the multi-moving state performance under wave disturbance. The theoretical research can realize the results such as a vectorial transmission shaft with the characteristics of spatial deflexion and continual circumgyratetion, parameterized design of the new wheel propeller with preferable open-water performance and intensity characteristics satisfying multi-moving state requirements, motion computation and kinetic analysis of AUV's arbitrary postures under wave disturbance, a second-order sliding mode controller with double-loop structure based on dynamic boundary layer that ensures AUV's trajectory high-precision tracking performance under wave disturbance, fast and exact prediction of the ambient flow field characteristics and the interaction mechanism between AUV hull and wheel propellers. The elaborate data obtained from the theoretical research can provide an important theoretical guidance and technical support for the manufacture of experimental prototype.

Cooperative Navigation for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles Based on Estimation of Motion Radius Vectors

A cooperative navigation algorithm for a group of autonomous underwater vehicles is proposed on the basis of motion radius vector estimation.Combined the dead reckoning data with the mutual range data through an acoustic communication network among the group members, the relative positioning problem can be solved. A novel approach for solving the relative positioning is presented by using a recursive trigonometry technique and extended Kalman filter(EKF). Simulation results verify the correctness and effectiveness of this navigation method.

Expert S-surface control for autonomous underwater vehicles

S-surface control has proven to be an effective means for motion control of underwater autonomous vehicles(AUV).However there are still problems maintaining steady precision of course due to the constant need to adjust parameters,especially where there are disturbing currents.Thus an intelligent integral was introduced to improve precision.An expert S-surface control was developed to tune the parameters on-line,based on the expert system,it provides S-surface control according to practical experience and control knowledge.To prevent control output over-compensation,a fuzzy neural network was included to adjust the production rules to the knowledge base.Experiments were conducted on an AUV simulation platform,and the results show that the expert S-surface controller performs better than an S-surface controller in environments with currents,producing good steady precision of course in a robust way.

Dynamics Modeling and Simulation of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles with Appendages

To provide a simulation system platform for designing and debugging a small autonomous underwater vehicle＇s （AUV） motion controller, a six-degree of freedom （6-DOF） dynamic model for AUV controlled by thruster and fins with appendages is examined. Based on the dynamic model, a simulation system for the AUV＇s motion is established. The different kinds of typical motions are simulated to analyze the motion performance and the maneuverability of the AUV. In order to evaluate the influences of appendages on the motion performance of the AUV, simulations of the AUV with and without appendages are performed and compared. The results demonstrate the AUV has good maneuverability with and without appendages.

Path-Following Control With Obstacle Avoidance of Autonomous Surface Vehicles Subject to Actuator Faults

This paper investigates the path-following control problem with obstacle avoidance of autonomous surface vehicles in the presence of actuator faults,uncertainty and external disturbances.Autonomous surface vehicles inevitably suffer from actuator faults in complex sea environments,which may cause existing obstacle avoidance strategies to fail.To reduce the influence of actuator faults,an improved artificial potential function is constructed by introducing the lower bound of actuator efficiency factors.The nonlinear state observer,which only depends on measurable position information of the autonomous surface vehicle,is used to address uncertainties and external disturbances.By using a backstepping technique and adaptive mechanism,a path-following control strategy with obstacle avoidance and fault tolerance is designed which can ensure that the tracking errors converge to a small neighborhood of zero.Compared with existing results,the proposed control strategy has the capability of obstacle avoidance and fault tolerance simultaneously.Finally,the comparison results through simulations are given to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.

On the Study of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles by Computational Fluid-Dynamics

Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV’s) are considered as advanced classes of vehicles, capable of performing pre-established missions without physical communication with the ground or human assistance. The research and development of this type of vehicles have been motivated, due to its excellent characteristics, ideal to the military, scientific and industrial sectors. Thus, the objective of this paper is to study fluid flow behavior past over AUV’s, without and with control surfaces (rudders), by Computational Fluid-Dynamics (CFD), aiming to obtain information about the impact of the operating depth and control surfaces on the vehicle's hydrodynamics, in order to help researchers and designers of this class of vehicles. Results of the drag coefficient, pressure, velocity and streamlines distribution around the vehicles are presented and analyzed.

Toward Trustworthy Decision-Making for Autonomous Vehicles:A Robust Reinforcement Learning Approach with Safety Guarantees

While autonomous vehicles are vital components of intelligent transportation systems,ensuring the trustworthiness of decision-making remains a substantial challenge in realizing autonomous driving.Therefore,we present a novel robust reinforcement learning approach with safety guarantees to attain trustworthy decision-making for autonomous vehicles.The proposed technique ensures decision trustworthiness in terms of policy robustness and collision safety.Specifically,an adversary model is learned online to simulate the worst-case uncertainty by approximating the optimal adversarial perturbations on the observed states and environmental dynamics.In addition,an adversarial robust actor-critic algorithm is developed to enable the agent to learn robust policies against perturbations in observations and dynamics.Moreover,we devise a safety mask to guarantee the collision safety of the autonomous driving agent during both the training and testing processes using an interpretable knowledge model known as the Responsibility-Sensitive Safety Model.Finally,the proposed approach is evaluated through both simulations and experiments.These results indicate that the autonomous driving agent can make trustworthy decisions and drastically reduce the number of collisions through robust safety policies.

A Survey on an Emerging Safety Challenge for Autonomous Vehicles:Safety of the Intended Functionality

As the complexity of autonomous vehicles(AVs)continues to increase and artificial intelligence algorithms are becoming increasingly ubiquitous,a novel safety concern known as the safety of the intended functionality(SOTIF)has emerged,presenting significant challenges to the widespread deployment of AVs.SOTIF focuses on issues arising from the functional insufficiencies of the AVs’intended functionality or its implementation,apart from conventional safety considerations.From the systems engineering standpoint,this study offers a comprehensive exploration of the SOTIF landscape by reviewing academic research,practical activities,challenges,and perspectives across the development,verification,validation,and operation phases.Academic research encompasses system-level SOTIF studies and algorithm-related SOTIF issues and solutions.Moreover,it encapsulates practical SOTIF activities undertaken by corporations,government entities,and academic institutions spanning international and Chinese contexts,focusing on the overarching methodologies and practices in different phases.Finally,the paper presents future challenges and outlook pertaining to the development,verification,validation,and operation phases,motivating stakeholders to address the remaining obstacles and challenges.

General Optimal Trajectory Planning:Enabling Autonomous Vehicles with the Principle of Least Action

This study presents a general optimal trajectory planning(GOTP)framework for autonomous vehicles(AVs)that can effectively avoid obstacles and guide AVs to complete driving tasks safely and efficiently.Firstly,we employ the fifth-order Bezier curve to generate and smooth the reference path along the road centerline.Cartesian coordinates are then transformed to achieve the curvature continuity of the generated curve.Considering the road constraints and vehicle dynamics,limited polynomial candidate trajectories are generated and smoothed in a curvilinear coordinate system.Furthermore,in selecting the optimal trajectory,we develop a unified and auto-tune objective function based on the principle of least action by employing AVs to simulate drivers’behavior and summarizing their manipulation characteristics of“seeking benefits and avoiding losses.”Finally,by integrating the idea of receding-horizon optimization,the proposed framework is achieved by considering dynamic multi-performance objectives and selecting trajectories that satisfy feasibility,optimality,and adaptability.Extensive simulations and experiments are performed,and the results demonstrate the framework’s feasibility and effectiveness,which avoids both dynamic and static obstacles and applies to various scenarios with multi-source interactive traffic participants.Moreover,we prove that the proposed method can guarantee real-time planning and safety requirements compared to drivers’manipulation.

Adaptive Sensor-Fault Tolerant Control of Unmanned Underwater Vehicles With Input Saturation

This paper investigates the tracking control problem for unmanned underwater vehicles(UUVs)systems with sensor faults,input saturation,and external disturbance caused by waves and ocean currents.An active sensor fault-tolerant control scheme is proposed.First,the developed method only requires the inertia matrix of the UUV,without other dynamic information,and can handle both additive and multiplicative sensor faults.Subsequently,an adaptive fault-tolerant controller is designed to achieve asymptotic tracking control of the UUV by employing robust integral of the sign of error feedback method.It is shown that the effect of sensor faults is online estimated and compensated by an adaptive estimator.With the proposed controller,the tracking error and estimation error can asymptotically converge to zero.Finally,simulation results are performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Reinforcement Learning Based Obstacle Avoidance for Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

Obstacle avoidance becomes a very challenging task for an autonomous underwater vehicle(AUV)in an unknown underwater environment during exploration process.Successful control in such case may be achieved using the model-based classical control techniques like PID and MPC but it required an accurate mathematical model of AUV and may fail due to parametric uncertainties,disturbance,or plant model mismatch.On the other hand,model-free reinforcement learning(RL)algorithm can be designed using actual behavior of AUV plant in an unknown environment and the learned control may not get affected by model uncertainties like a classical control approach.Unlike model-based control model-free RL based controller does not require to manually tune controller with the changing environment.A standard RL based one-step Q-learning based control can be utilized for obstacle avoidance but it has tendency to explore all possible actions at given state which may increase number of collision.Hence a modified Q-learning based control approach is proposed to deal with these problems in unknown environment.Furthermore,function approximation is utilized using neural network(NN)to overcome the continuous states and large statespace problems which arise in RL-based controller design.The proposed modified Q-learning algorithm is validated using MATLAB simulations by comparing it with standard Q-learning algorithm for single obstacle avoidance.Also,the same algorithm is utilized to deal with multiple obstacle avoidance problems.

Adaptive Backstepping Terminal Sliding Mode Control Method Based on Recurrent Neural Networks for Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

The trajectory tracking control problem is addressed for autonomous underwater vehicle(AUV) in marine environ?ment, with presence of the influence of the uncertain factors including ocean current disturbance, dynamic modeling uncertainty, and thrust model errors. To improve the trajectory tracking accuracy of AUV, an adaptive backstepping terminal sliding mode control based on recurrent neural networks(RNN) is proposed. Firstly, considering the inaccu?rate of thrust model of thruster, a Taylor’s polynomial is used to obtain the thrust model errors. And then, the dynamic modeling uncertainty and thrust model errors are combined into the system model uncertainty(SMU) of AUV; through the RNN, the SMU and ocean current disturbance are classified, approximated online. Finally, the weights of RNN and other control parameters are adjusted online based on the backstepping terminal sliding mode controller. In addition, a chattering?reduction method is proposed based on sigmoid function. In chattering?reduction method, the sigmoid function is used to realize the continuity of the sliding mode switching function, and the sliding mode switching gain is adjusted online based on the exponential form of the sliding mode function. Based on the Lyapu?nov theory and Barbalat’s lemma, it is theoretically proved that the AUV trajectory tracking error can quickly converge to zero in the finite time. This research proposes a trajectory tracking control method of AUV, which can e ectively achieve high?precision trajectory tracking control of AUV under the influence of the uncertain factors. The feasibility and e ectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated with trajectory tracking simulations and pool?experi?ments of AUV.