Multi-AUV coordination in the underwater environment with obstacles

A concept of extended formation which is derived by combining the destination and obstacles in the underwater environment as elements into the traditional formation of AUVs is proposed. In extended formation, an improved potential-field-based approach is introduced to coordinate multiple autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). Artificial potential fields which define the control forces are constructed to correspond to a special destination and desired formation geometry. The extended formation with the improved potential fields can be regarded as a multi-body system with closed branches. In the system, the vehicles are interconnected in a configuration by forces derived from the potentials. Feasibility of the proposed approach is validated by using simulation results.