Trajectory Tracking of the Operational Travelling of a Deep-Sea Collector Based on Virtual Target Vehicle Following

In view of the requirements and characteristics that a deep-sea polymetallic nodule collector must travel according to a planned path and speed during operation, a collector trajectory tracking system scheme based on virtual target vehicle following is proposed. In this system, the virtual target vehicle travels according to the planned path and speed, thereby generating a dynamic target path and speed. A fuzzy controller calculates the collector’s angular-velocity command based on the lateral position deviation and the heading-angle deviation between the collector and the target vehicle, and a proportional controller calculates the collector’s body linear velocity control command based on the longitudinal position deviation between the collector and the target vehicle. By integrating these two commands, the collector follows the target vehicle and thereby realizes trajectory tracking of the planned path and speed. A tracking system is designed and simulation studies are carried out. The results show that the designed system enables the collector to follow the planned path and speed well under operational conditions. The trajectory tracking method based on virtual target vehicle following can also form an organic integration of path planning and trajectory tracking, generate dynamic planned paths and speeds for the entire mining area, and realize tracking travel of the collector along the planned path and speed throughout the whole operation.