Cooperative learning‐based practical formation‐containment control with prescribed performance for heterogeneous clusters of UAV/USV

Summary In this paper, a new approach for formation‐containment control with prescribed performances is introduced for heterogeneous autonomous vehicles involving a cluster of leader unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and follower unmanned surface vessels (USVs). We introduce a two‐layer distributed control system: The upper layer focuses on guiding the UAVs to form a scalable lattice while synchronizing their movement along a predefined path, and the second layer guides the USVs to enter the convex hull formed by the UAVs, ensuring collision‐free operation with static/dynamic objects. To prevent collisions and ensure lattice formation, a set of well‐defined bump functions are utilized in the design of the backstepping control algorithm. Managing virtual controls, we incorporate a nonlinear dynamic surface control (NDSC), while a universal barrier function enhances the convergence of formation tracking errors. Furthermore, each USV employs a cooperative adaptive learning neural network to handle uncertainties in heterogeneous vehicle models. Utilizing the Lyapunov theorem, the stability of the formation‐containment of UAV/USV is achieved, and all signals in the formation‐containment systems are semiglobal uniform ultimate bounded (SGUUB). A simulation example showcases the effectiveness of our proposed approach, highlighting contributions in collision avoidance, synchronization speed, and adaptive learning. Our work advances the heterogeneous formation‐containment literature towards more realistic scenarios with safety‐critical considerations amidst multiple layers of uncertainties and unknown parameters.