Flexible Formation Tracking Control of Multiple Unmanned Surface Vessels for Navigating Through Narrow Channels with Unknown Curvatures

This article proposes a flexible formation tracking control protocol (FFTC) for multiple unmanned surface vessels (USVs) to pass through narrow water channels with unknown curvatures. An observer is developed to estimate the curvatures of channels. A flexible formation tracking control protocol is, thereby designed to steer USV fleets to pass through narrow channels in a flexible serial formation. Furthermore, the asymptotically stable conditions of the closed-loop multi-USV systems are theoretically derived. Finally, both numerical simulation and experimental results with a fleet of three HUSTER-0.3 USVs are reported to substantiate the effectiveness of the proposed FFTC protocol for navigating through narrow channel in a laboratory context.