Layered fully distributed formation-containment tracking control for multiple unmanned surface vehicles

This paper addresses the formation-containment tracking control (FCTC) problem for unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) formation systems swarm with multiple leaders. Unlike the general study of the multi-leader case, communication among leaders is considered to endow the system with broader applicability under different mission requirements. Besides, a layered framework is employed here to distinguish the behaviour and role of agents in the formation system. In the first layer, a formation tracking controller is developed for leaders to track the reference trajectory and achieve the desired formation configuration. Then, a containment controller is proposed for followers in the second layer to drive them into the geometric space formed by leaders. Without loss of generality, the state information transmission between the two layers is considered unidirectional and the directed communication networks are designed in both layers. Meanwhile, considering the limitation that the agents in the USV formation system can only access their local information, the FCTC control strategy is designed in a fully distributed manner. Finally, numerical simulation results are represented to demonstrate the validity and feasibility of the proposed control scheme.