Collective Dynamics and Control for Multiple Unmanned Surface Vessels
For researchers in multi-robot systems, this work provides a validated hardware-software platform for formation control, but the approach is incremental.
The paper presents a multi-USV formation control system that can chase and surround a target vessel, supported by theoretical analysis and extensive experiments demonstrating its effectiveness.
A multi-unmanned surface vessel (USV) formation control system is established on a novel platform composed of three 1.2 meter-long hydraulic jet propulsion surface vessels, a differential GPS reference station, and inter-vessel Zigbee communication modules. The system is also equipped with an upper level collective multi-USV protocol and a lower level vessel dynamics controller. The system is capable of chasing and surrounding a target vessel. The results are supported by rigorous theoretical analysis in terms of asymptotical surrounding behavior and trajectory regulation. Extensive experiments are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed hardware and software architectures.