Kinematic Task-Priority Path Following for Articulated Marine Vehicles

Abstract

Snake-like articulated vehicles have become increasingly common in recent years, both in aerial and marine applications. One of the main benefits of the articulated design is the increased maneuverability, allowing movement in cluttered environments where traditional vessels may not ft. However, research on the topic of path following for these types of vessels is fairly limited, not utilizing the flexibility of the articulated system to its full extent. There has been some research on path following using a swimming gait, but this requires an undulating motion around the path and is less suited for articulated systems with external thrusters. In this paper a method for path following is developed where each link is kept on the path at all times. The general idea is to use an existing line-of-sight guidance method and combine it with a kinematic task-priority controller to control the joints of the system. The stability properties of the proposed method will be examined theoretically, and validated in simulation.