Fuzzy adaptive time‐varying formation control of USVs with actuator faults

Summary This paper investigates the fuzzy adaptive time‐varying formation control problem for fully‐actuated unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) systems. The studied USVs systems include uncertain dynamics and actuator faults. Fuzzy logic systems (FLSs) and disturbance observer are employed to estimate uncertain nonlinear dynamics in system model and external time‐varying disturbances, respectively. Meanwhile, the prescribed performance control (PPC) technique is applied to construct the constraint requirements of collision avoidance and connectivity preservation in time‐varying formation control. Additionally, a new robust adaptive fault‐tolerant control (FTC) algorithm is presented. Hence, by the aid of adaptive backstepping technique with performance functions, a robust fuzzy adaptive time‐varying formation FTC scheme of time‐varying formation is developed. The proposed formation control scheme not only has the advantages of avoiding collision and preserving connectivity, but also ensures all the signals are uniformly ultimately bounded (UUB). Finally, the simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.