Robust Distributed Guidance and Control of Multiple Autonomous Surface Vehicles based on Extended State Observers and Finite-set Model Predictive Control

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the guidance and control design for a swarm of multiple under-actuated autonomous surface vehicles subject to unmeasured velocities of neighbors, system uncertainties and ocean disturbances. A robust distributed guidance and predictive control architecture is presented to achieve a desired formation along a parameterized path. Specifically, a robust distributed constant bearing guidance law is designed based on extended state observers. Then, optimized surge speed and heading controllers are designed based on finiteset model predictive control for selecting optimal actions within finite control sets and extended state observers for recovering the unmeasured yaw rate and unknown model. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed robust distributed cooperative guidance and control methods for path-guided formation maneuvering of multiple under-actuated autonomous surface vehicles.