Virtual-leader-follower structure and finite-time controller based cooperative control of multiple autonomous underwater vehicles

The formation control for large-scale multiple autonomous underwater vehicles is investigated. A formation control scheme to combinate leader-follower with virtual structure is introduced; AUVs with underwater communication rage constraints are divided into some clusters according to their relative postions in space, and leaders in all clusters can track their desired trajectories based on virtual structure; followers within all clusters follow the corresponding leader as their desired tracking trajectory. We realize the larege-scale formation control with the proposed formation scheme and the finite-time controller proposed in our previous work. Numerical simulation results show the effectiveness of the control strategy.