Fast finite-time fault-tolerant trajectory tracking control of unmanned surface vehicles with multiple actuator constraints

This paper investigates the problem of trajectory tracking control for unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) with uncertain dynamics, external disturbances, in consisting with actuator fault, dead-zone and saturation. First, a Sigmoid function-based equivalent transformation method is proposed, with which the actuator constraints can be handled under the same framework in a smooth way. To improve the converge rate of the system, a new type of sliding mode surface is given, based on which, an adaptive finite-time trajectory tracking control scheme is further developed to guarantee the surface vehicles track the given trajectory with finite time, while dealing with the physical limitations of the actuator. At last, both simulation and comparative results are provided to illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.