Containment control of networked heterogeneous autonomous surface vehicles: A data‐driven control approach

Abstract In this article, by creating a novel distributed full‐form dynamic linearization based model‐free adaptive containment control (FFDL‐MFACC) approach, the containment control problem of networked heterogeneous autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs), suffering from complex external disturbances and unavailable kinetic model‐information, is resolved. In light of the data‐driven strategy, a full‐form dynamic linearization‐based data model is efficiently established. Then, by further deploying the commonly used rotation matrix, a distributed FFDL‐MFACC scheme is thereafter developed such that accurate tracking of a predefined convex hull spanned for all follower vehicles can be achieved. Afterwards, a disturbance observer is further designed to accurately estimate the lumped disturbances and the estimation is served as a compensation within the distributed full‐form dynamic linearization. Rigorously theoretical analysis indicates the devised distributed FFDL‐MFACC method can ensure the asymptotic containment tracking of networked heterogeneous ASVs. Finally, simulation results are illustrated to verify the advantages of the devised approach.