Adaptive Fuzzy Backstepping-Based Formation Control of Unmanned Surface Vehicles With Unknown Model Nonlinearity and Actuator Saturation

In this article, the formation control of unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) is addressed considering actuator saturation and unknown nonlinear items. The algorithm can be divided into two parts, steering the leader USV to trace along the desired path and steering the follower USV to follow the leader in the desired formation. In the proposed formation control framework, a virtual USV is first constructed so that the leader USV can be guided to the desired path. To solve the input constraint problem, an auxiliary is introduced, and the adaptive fuzzy method is used to estimate unknown nonlinear items in the USV. To maintain the desired formation, the desired velocities of follower USVs are deduced using geometry and Lyapunov stability theories; the stability of the closed-loop system is also proved. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated by the simulation and experimental results.