Robust Control of Horizontal Formation Dynamics for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

Abstract—This paper presents a novel robust controller design for formation control of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). We consider a nonlinear three-degree-of-freedom dy-namic model for the horizontal motion of each AUV. By using the Jacobi transform, the horizontal dynamics of AUVs are explicitly expressed as dynamics for formation shape and for-mation center, and are further decoupled by feedback control. We treat the coupling terms as perturbations to the decoupled system. An H ∞ state feedback controller is designed to achieve robust stability of the closed loop formation and translation dynamics. By incorporating an orientation controller, the for-mation shape under control converges and the formation center tracks a desired trajectory simultaneously. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the controllers. I