Distributed 3-D Time-Varying Formation Control of Underactuated AUVs With Communication Delays Based on Data-Driven State Predictor

Communication delays are a crucial issue in autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) formation control. To solve this issue, this article for the first time develops an active communication delay compensation (ACDC) mechanism with an innovatively developed data-driven state predictor (DDSP) of AUVs. The DDSP of each AUV can online estimate the current motion states of its neighbors solely depending on its received delayed motion state information of its neighbors. Incorporating the ACDC, prescribed performance control method, and neural networks into the backstepping approach, this article proposes a distributed 3-D time-varying formation prescribed performance control strategy, where a novel auxiliary dynamic system is created to alleviate the adverse effect of input saturations. The proposed formation control strategy ensures AUVs to maintain the desired 3-D time-varying formation pattern, while achieving the asymptotic stability with respect to formation errors and satisfying the performance constraints simultaneously. Simulations are performed to validate our proposed formation control strategy.