Adaptive fixed-time containment control of underactuated surface vessels with input quantization

• Published in: Ocean engineering Vol. 318; p. 120157
• Main Authors: Yan, Yan, Yin, Changtong, Hou, Yanqing, Yu, Shuanghe, Liu, Yi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 15.02.2025
• Subjects: Containment control; Fixed-time stability; Input quantization; Minimum learning parameter (MLP); Sliding mode control (SMC); Underactuated surface vessels (USVs); Minimum learning parameter (MLP); Fixed-time stability; Input quantization; Sliding mode control (SMC); Underactuated surface vessels (USVs); Containment control
• ISSN: 0029-8018
• DOI: 10.1016/j.oceaneng.2024.120157

This article investigates the fixed-time containment control problem for multi-underactuated surface vessels (USVs) subject to input quantization. By selecting a hand position point, the underactuated problem of the vessels is removed. Based on this, a novel adaptive law is incorporated into the containment control scheme to tackle external disturbances and input quantization errors. A distributed fixed-time controller is proposed to ensure that each follower USV can enter into a convex hull spanned by trajectories of the leader USVs in a user-defined time. Finally, simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm and the superior of the proposed schemes. •A fixed-time SMC law is developed for the containment control of USVs subject to external disturbances and input quantization. The hand position approach, addressing the underactuated characteristic, is employed to convert the model of USV into the integral cascade form. The proposed scheme ensures that the containment errors converge to a smaller neighborhood of the origin within an appointed time.•The constraint of communication is considered in the containment control of the USV. By using a switched quantizer, the quantized signals of control input are transmitted to reduce the usage of networked communication bandwidth. Compared with the existing control schemes of the USV, the proposed scheme is more practical.•A new adaptive law is proposed using the MLP technology to update external disturbances and quantization errors. The parameter of the NNs that needs to be adjusted is decreased to one, which can reduce the calculation burden.