Robust Event-Triggered Path Following Control for a Rotor-Assisted Vehicle With Output Constraints: Theory and Experiment

Focusing on the autonomous navigation of wind-assisted marine vessels, this article proposes a robust event-triggered control algorithm for the path following of rotor-assisted vehicles subject to stochastic marine disturbances. To reduce the actuator mechanical wear and enhance the system antiinterference capability, a hybrid threshold event-triggered control method is designed via the integration of a robust neural damping technique. This strategy dynamically adjusts the triggering thresholds during the transient response phase while maintaining fixed thresholds during the steady-state response phase. Moreover, the error transformation technique is incorporated to rigorously confine the output errors within predefined boundaries, effectively guaranteeing the tracking precision of the developed closed-loop control system in the navigation-constrained hazardous maritime zones. Through Lyapunov stability analysis, the semiglobal uniform ultimate bounded (SGUUB) convergence behavior of this system is validated. Ultimately, both the comparative simulation and physical experiment are conducted to demonstrate the superior performance and practical viability of the proposed algorithm.