AUTHOR=Yuan Chengren , Shuai Changgeng , Zhang Zhanshuo , Li Buyun , Cheng Yuqiang , Ma Jianguo 

TITLE=Geometric line-of-sight guidance law with exponential switching sliding mode control for marine vehicles’ path following

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Robotics and AI

VOLUME=Volume 12 - 2025

YEAR=2025

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/robotics-and-ai/articles/10.3389/frobt.2025.1598982

DOI=10.3389/frobt.2025.1598982

ISSN=2296-9144

ABSTRACT=Marine vehicle guidance and control technology serves as the core support for advancing marine development and enabling scientific exploration. Its accuracy, autonomy, and environmental adaptability directly determine a vehicle’s mission effectiveness in complex marine environments. This paper explores path following for marine vehicles in the horizontal plane. To tackle the limitation of a fixed look-ahead distance, we develop a novel geometric line-of-sight guidance law. It adapts to diverse compound paths by dynamically adjusting according to cross-track errors and local path curvature. Then, to enhance control performance, we present an improved exponential switching law for sliding mode control, enabling rapid convergence, disturbance rejection, and chatter reduction. Additionally, integral sliding mode control is integrated to stabilize yaw angular velocity, ensuring the system’s global asymptotic stability. Through a series of numerical simulations, the effectiveness, robustness, and adaptability of our proposed methods are verified.