Distributed Adaptive Affine Formation Maneuver Control for Multiple AUV Systems via Self-Triggered Mechanism

This article investigates the distributed three-dimensional (3-D) formation maneuver of multiple AUV systems (MAUVSs) under a self-triggered mechanism. The formation achieves flexible 3-D maneuvering through prescribed affine transformations, including translation, rotation, scaling, and shearing. For each AUV, the desired position trajectory is determined by the affine formation structure, while the corresponding desired pitch and yaw angles are generated online from its individual reference trajectory. Based on this framework, a self-triggered mechanism (STM) is introduced into distributed controllers to further reduce data transmission. The proposed STM calculates the subsequent triggering instant using the controller information available at the current trigger, thereby avoiding continuous evaluation of the measurement errors. Furthermore, RBFNN-based uncertainty approximation is incorporated into the controller and stability analysis establishes practical fixed-time convergence of tracking errors under lumped disturbances.