BIOINSPIRED NEURODYNAMICS-BASED POSITION-TRACKING CONTROL OF HOVERCRAFT VESSELS

This paper proposes a novel bioinspired neurodynamics-based position-tracking control approach for hovercrafts, where smooth and continuous velocity commands are desirable for safe steering control. The control algorithm is derived from the tracking error dynamics by incorporating backstepping technique and neurodynamics model derived from biological membrane equation. The tracking error is proved to converge to a small neighbourhood of the origin by a Lyapunov stability theory. The proposed approach is capable of generating smooth and continuous control signals with zero initial velocities, dealing with the velocity-jump problem. In addition, it can track any sufficiently smooth-bounded curves with constant or time-varying velocities. The effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed approach are demonstrated by simulation and comparison results.