Formation Control for Multi‐Autonomous Underwater Vehicles in Cooperative Underwater Topography Detection: Methods and Validation

A cooperative formation control strategy for multiple autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) is proposed for underwater topography detection and validated through field trials with the Wukong 1000 AUV. The strategy incorporates a leader‐follower communication structure, which defines both communication topology and timing. To enhance path‐following accuracy, an improved guidance law is developed for the leader AUV. Additionally, a state estimation method is introduced to mitigate the effects of communication delays and intervals, enabling follower AUVs to accurately predict the leader's real‐time state and ensuring formation integrity. A motion controller for underactuated systems is integrated with the guidance law to support precise trajectory tracking. To maintain range consistency and ensure safe, stable maneuvering, a cooperative steering protocol based on equivalent travel distance is also proposed. The method's effectiveness and robustness are validated through extensive field experiments using a tri‐AUV system. These experiments demonstrate the strategy's ability to conduct large‐scale, prolonged underwater topography detection operations with high operational efficiency and safety. Notably, even under challenging conditions—such as a communication interval exceeding 14 s, communication delays greater than 2 s, and a communication success rate of nearly 90%—the formation tracking error remains under 2 m during cooperative seabed exploration.