Disturbance rejection event-triggered robust nonlinear model predictive control for underactuated unmanned surface vehicle against DoS attacks without velocity measurements

• Published in: ISA transactions
• Main Authors: Feng, Na, Wu, Defeng, Yu, Hongliang, You, Zheng, Tu, Wanli
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Ltd 21.08.2025
• Subjects: Event-triggered mechanism; Nonlinear extended state observer; Nonlinear model predictive control; Unmanned surface vehicle; Unmanned surface vehicle; Nonlinear extended state observer; Nonlinear model predictive control; Event-triggered mechanism
• ISSN: 0019-0578; 1879-2022; 1879-2022
• DOI: 10.1016/j.isatra.2025.08.031

This paper presents a disturbance rejection event-triggered nonlinear model predictive control (DR-ETNMPC) method for underactuated unmanned surface vehicle (USV) subject to denial-of-service (DoS) attacks and lacking velocity measurements. A nonlinear extended state observer (NESO) is employed to estimate both unknown velocities and lumped disturbances, while a disturbance rejection nonlinear model predictive controller (DRNMPC) is designed to enforce actuator saturation constraints. To reduce computational load of the DRNMPC, an event-triggered mechanism is introduced, and a DoS attack defense mechanism is introduced to guarantee that the USV maintains high-precision tracking performance under DoS attacks. Rigorous analysis is conducted to ensure recursive feasibility and closed-loop stability. Simulation results verify the method’s effectiveness and superiority, demonstrating notable improvements in both control precision and computational efficiency. •A disturbance rejection nonlinear model predictive controller (DRNMPC) is proposed, enhancing robustness and practicality for underactuated USV system.•An event-triggered mechanism integrated with DRNMPC effectively reduces computational load.•A resilient control strategy with a DoS defense mechanism mitigates the impact of controller-to-actuator signal interruptions caused by DoS attacks.