Bioinspired neurodynamics based formation control for unmanned surface vehicles with line-of-sight range and angle constraints

In this work, a leader-follower formation control for a group of waterjet unmanned marine surface ve-hicles (USV) is proposed under the consideration of formation tracking errors constraints. To guarantee line-of-sight (LOS) range and angle tracking errors constraints, a time-varying tan-type barrier Lyapunov function (BLF) is used. In addition, the bioinspired neurodynamics is introduced to solve the traditional differential explosion problem which can not only avoid the differential of the virtual control but can limit the output in a certain range. Further, an observer is involved to overcome the leader's velocity unavailable problem and decrease the communication burden. Simulation results verify that under the proposed method, the LOS range and angle errors can converge into an arbitrary small neighborhood around 0, while the requirements of the constraints are never violated during the maneuver. (c) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study proposes a leader-follower formation control method for a group of waterjet unmanned marine surface vehicles (USV) by using barrier Lyapunov function and neurodynamics, which effectively solves the formation tracking error constraints. By introducing an observer and neurodynamics, the performance and communication efficiency of the leader formation are improved.