Adjacent Cross-Coupling Synchronous Formation Control with Collision Avoidance for Multiple Surface Vessels with Unknown Disturbances

The obstacles are unavoidable when multiple surface vessels sails in formation and unknown marine disturbances may lead to poor synchronization performance between vessels. To solve the aforementioned problems, a robust distributed synchronous formation control method with collision avoidance is proposed for the multiple surface vessels. Firstly, the mathematical model of the surface vessels are established. Then, the artificial potential field theory is designed to avoid obstacles autonomously and the adjacent cross-coupling synchronous control strategy is proposed to achieve higher control accuracy. Further, a robust adjacent cross-coupling synchronous formation control method with collision avoidance is proposed for the multiple surface vessels, where the unknown ocean disturbances are approximated by the neural network. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed control method is proved by simulations. The proposed control method can not only greatly improve the synchronization control accuracy between vessels, but also avoid obstacles autonomously. Therefore, the automation and safety can be improved while the multiple surface vessels are sailing in formation.