Prescribed Performance Formation‐Containment Control for Unmanned Surface Vehicles With Actuator Saturation and Fault Conditions

ABSTRACT A formation‐containment control strategy for unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) is proposed in this study through the integration of finite‐time prescribed performance control theory with an event‐triggered mechanism, while explicitly addressing actuator saturation and failure constraints. The control architecture is hierarchically structured into two layers: a formation layer and a containment layer. First, to enhance transient and steady‐state performance under input saturation, a saturation‐tolerant finite‐time prescribed performance function (SFPPF) is developed. When input saturation occurs, performance boundaries are adaptively regulated by the SFPPF through autonomous adjustment mechanisms, effectively circumventing potential singularity issues. Subsequently, an event‐triggered mechanism is proposed, with formation and containment controllers designed by integrating Lyapunov stability theory and the backstepping methodology, while simultaneously reducing communication bandwidth consumption and actuator fatigue. Actuator faults and environmental disturbances are estimated via an interval type‐2 fuzzy neural network combined with parameter adaptive methods. Furthermore, theoretical analysis demonstrates that all closed‐loop system signals remain bounded with finite‐time convergence of formation and containment errors. Notably, the prescribed performance controller ensures that the event‐triggered mechanism does not degrade system control accuracy. The effectiveness of the proposed formation‐containment control framework is validated via numerical simulations with USV dynamic models.