Formation Control of Underactuated AUVs Using the Hand Position Concept

This paper presents an extended null-space-based behavioral algorithm for the formation control of fleets of underactuated autonomous underwater vehicles. The null-space-based controller is developed to work directly with second-order integrator systems, handling their dynamics in task space. The method is applied to the formation-path-following problem of a fleet of underactuated autonomous underwater vehicles. The nonlinear six-degrees-of-freedom model of the vehicle is transformed into a second-order integrator system using the 3D hand position output linearizing controller. The behavioral controller implements a hierarchy of path-following, formation-keeping, and collision-avoidance tasks. The closed-loop system is proven uniformly globally asymptotically stable, and the proposed method is validated through numerical simulations.