Discrete-time formation control of multiple heterogeneous underwater gliders

The formation control of underwater gliders has been widely concerned due to its practical potential in various applications of ocean observation. This paper investigates the problems of formation control of multiple heterogeneous gliders based on consensus algorithm with discrete information. A nonlinear second-order dynamic model is obtained for the complex nonlinear underactuated gliders. By combining the consensus of speed control in forward direction and path following in lateral direction, formation control protocol with unavailable velocity information and asynchronous communication is proposed for multiple gliders. The glider formation control system (GFCS) is designed to drive a fleet of gliders following a set of explicitly specified trajectories. Two cases of simulation with six heterogeneous gliders and six homogeneous gliders respectively are performed to demonstrate the methodology and verify the effectiveness and reliability of the formation control protocol for discrete-time multi-glider system, which is proved to be applicable to formation scaling and transformation of multiple gliders.