Fixed-Time Trajectory Tracking Control of Autonomous Surface Vehicle with Model Uncertainties and Disturbances

The issue of fixed-time trajectory tracking control for the autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs) system with model uncertainties and external disturbances is investigated in this paper. Particularly, convergence time does not depend on initial conditions. The major contributions include the following: (1) An integral sliding mode controller (ISMC) via integral sliding mode surface is first proposed, which can ensure that the system states can follow the desired trajectory within a fixed time. (2) Unknown external disturbances are absolutely estimated by means of designing a fixed-time disturbance observer (FTDO). By combining the FTDO and ISMC techniques, a new control scheme (FTDO-ISMC) is developed, which can achieve both disturbance compensation and chattering-free condition. (3) Aiming at reconstructing the unknown nonlinear dynamics and external disturbances, a fixed-time unknown observer (FTUO) is proposed, thus providing the FTUO-ISMC scheme that finally achieves trajectory tracking of ASVs with unknown parameters. Finally, simulation tests and detailed comparisons indicate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.