Distributed formation control of a fleet of underwater gliders

In this paper, the distributed formation control problem for the underactuated multi-glider system with directed and undirected communication topology is investigated. Neglecting the acceleration part, the second-order model of the glider is established and discretized by the direct discretization method. The distributed formation control system which embedded in the on-board controller of each glider is developed to motivate the glider to the expected formation. Applying the neighbouring relative position and velocity information, a discrete-time formation protocol is developed and the sufficient conditions for accomplishing the formation are established. The simulation of three gliders achieves the expected formation and show the correctness and effectiveness of the proposed control protocols.