A Path Following Guidance Law for Shared Control

This paper presents an adaptive shared control path-following law that corrects deviations from a desired path when a craft is manually steered. A reference model generates ideal motion, which is aligned with the actual trajectory to compute real-time corrections of lateral deviations. The method preserves longitudinal disturbances to maintain operator awareness, while enhancing stability and intuitive control. The stability properties rely on the underlying motion control system; however, it is locally asymptotically stable for a range of controllers and calculations of the path. We emphasize the benefits of an experimental case study of a remotely operated fully actuated ferry by demonstrating how the reference model may be chosen to achieve both course-stability and fixed heading support in different modes of operation. The method optimizes operator intuitive steering with seamless path corrections and support for station-keeping, evaluated from both expert and non-expert operators.