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

Abstract

In this work, a leader–follower formation control for a group of waterjet unmanned marine surface vehicles (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.