Adaptive Formation Scaling Maneuver Control of Autonomous Surface Vehicles with Uncertain Dynamics and Bearing Constraints

In this paper, a formation scaling maneuver problem of autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs) with uncertain dynamics and bearing constraints is investigated. Based on graph theories, the bearing rigidity theory, dynamic surface and adaptive neural control, we propose a new adaptive formation scaling maneuver control scheme for ASVs. Two virtual leaders are programmed to generate a bearing constrained target formation with desired yawing. Control inputs combined with adaptive laws are designed using inter-neighbour bearings, neighbouring states and filtered virtual signals of neighbours. It is shown that if the augmented framework is infinitesimal bearing rigid, desired formation scaling maneuver of ASVs can be achieved with proposed controllers. And the formation sizes can be scaled only by two virtual leaders without changing control inputs of followers. Compared with the existing results, our developed scheme reduces weights of each channel to a parameter when obtaining robustness against model uncertainties of ASVs. Simulations and comparison results are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of theoretical results.