Maneuverability-based adaptive line-of-sight guidance control for path following of underactuated surface vehicles

Journal article, 2026

Guidance serves as the basis for the path following of underactuated surface vehicles (USVs). However, the complex maneuverability characteristics, varying features of desired paths, and environmental disturbances pose significant challenges for the path following of underactuated surface vehicle (USV). Therefore, a novel maneuverability-based adaptive line-of-sight (MLOS) guidance control method is proposed in this paper. The proposed MLOS guidance control introducing an adaptive Acceptance Circle radius that adapts to the features of the desired path and USV maneuverability, with its parameters optimized through Simulated Annealing (SA). Finally, simulation tests are carried out in conjunction with a predictive proportional integral derivative (PID)-based USV course-keeping controller to verify the effectiveness of the proposed MLOS guidance control under various scenarios. The results show that it integrally reduces the sailing time and path-following error by average values of 1.75% and 12.63%, respectively, thereby achieving efficient USV path following in various scenarios.