Extended state observer based trajectory tracking control of underactuated unmanned surface vehicle with signal quantization

Abstract Aiming at the model uncertainty and the complexity of trajectory tracking control of underactuated unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) in complex marine environments, an underactuated USV trajectory tracking control strategy with signal quantization based on the extended state observers (ESOs) is proposed in this paper. According to the inner and outer loop control strategy, the guidance law is designed in the kinematic subsystem to solve the underactuated problem of the USV. In the kinetic subsystem, the ESOs are utilized to resolve the unknown terms in the system and smooth the quantized state signals. Moreover, the input quantization process is represented through a linear model, while the controller has not acquired any prior parameter knowledge of quantization. A Lyapunov‐based stability analysis was conducted to demonstrate the stability of the entire closed‐loop system. The effectiveness of the proposed strategy was validated through the simulation.