Method of Cooperative Formation Control for Underactuated USVS Based on Nonlinear Backstepping and Cascade System Theory

This paper presents a method for the cooperative formation control of a group of underactuated USVs. The problem of formation control is first converted to one of stabilisation control of the tracking errors of the follower USVs using system state transformation design. The followers must keep a fixed distance from the leader USV and a specific heading angle in order to maintain a certain type of formation. A global differential homeomorphism transformation is then designed to create a tracking error system for the follower USVs, in order to simplify the description of the control system. This makes the complex formation control system easy to analyse, and allows it to be decomposed into a cascaded system. In addition, several intermediate state variables and virtual control laws are designed based on nonlinear backstepping, and actual control algorithms for the follower USVs to control the surge force and yaw moment are presented. A global system that can ensure uniform asymptotic stability of the USVs’ cooperative formation control is achieved by combining Lyapunov stability theory and cascade system theory. Finally, several simulation experiments are carried out to verify the validity, stability and reliability of our cooperative formation control method.