Coordinated Control for Multiple Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

Abstract: This thesis discusses self- and event-triggered control for collective motion of autonomous underwater vehicles, for which rules are derived and analysed. The purpose is to enable coordinated underwater motion for agents that can not update their knowledge of the states of the group while submerged. A selftriggered control strategy is studied in which a designated leader agent broadcasts the upcoming waypoints for all agents, based on their desired position relative the leader. A Lyapunov based event-triggered approach is also studied using a potential based control strategy. Stability and convergence problems are discussed as well as the suitability of the control strategies based on feasible inter-surfacing times for the agents. Simulations illustrate the characteristics of the control strategies.