Straight-line formation control of marine surface vessels based on model predictive control

摘要

A novel formation tracking control of marine surface vessels based on model predictive control (MPC) is proposed in this paper. Taking advantage of handling output constraints of MPC, the risk of collision among ships in formation is reduced. First, the predictive model and the formation error system are established based on the leader-follower strategy. Meanwhile, the rudder (control input) saturation is considered as the control input constraint. Then, the formation control problem is transformed into an optimal control problem within input and output constraints. Finally, various simulations are conducted to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.