Abstract
This paper addresses the problem of synchronized path following of multiple homogenous underactuated autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). The dedicated control laws are categorized into two envelopes: One is steering individual underwater vehicle to track along predefined path, and the other is ensuring tracked paths of multiple vehicles to be synchronized, by means of decentralized speed adaption under the constraints of multi-vehicle communication topology. With these two tasks formulation, geometric path following is built on Lyapunov theory and backstepping techniques, while injecting helmsman behavior into classic individual path following control. Synchronization of path parameters are reached by using a mixture of tools from linear algebra, graph theory and nonlinear control theory. A simple but effective control design on direct inter-vehicle speed adaption with minimized communication variables, enables the multi-AUV systems to be synchronized and stabilized into an invariant manifold, and all speeds converge to desired assignments as a byproduct. Simulation results illustrate the performance of the synchronized path following control laws proposed.