Integrated Path Planning and Tracking Control of an AUV: A Unified Receding Horizon Optimization Approach

This paper attempts to develop a unified receding horizon optimization (RHO) scheme for the integrated path planning and tracking control of an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). Considering that the effective sensing range of onboard sensors is practically short, we formulate the path planning into RHO problems with the spline path template. The planned path is subsequently viewed as the state trajectory of a virtual reference system having the same kinematic and dynamic properties as the AUV's. Appropriately constructed error dynamics makes the AUV tracking control equivalent to the regulation problem of the error dynamic system, which facilitates the derivation of theoretical results via nonlinear MPC techniques. The model predictive control (MPC) tracking controller is designed so that closed-loop stability can be ensured. Due to the inherent RHO nature, both the path planning and tracking control are incorporated into an unified scheme. Simulation studies are conducted using a realistic dynamic model of the Falcon AUV, which was created in our previous experimental work. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm.