Leader-follower formation control of surface vehicles: A fixed-time control approach

In this paper, a novel fixed-time controller (FTC) strategy based on leader-follower mechanism and finite-time disturbance observer (FDO) is proposed for surface vehicles (SVs) formation suffering from complex unknowns. The excellent features of designed strategy are shown below: (1) A fixed-time tracking control (FTTC) approach combining with integral sliding mode (ISM) technology is devised for a nominal leader SV such that fixed-time stability can be ensured; (2) To achieve formation efficiently, a fixed-time formation controller (FTFC) strategy incorporating with backstepping technology is proposed for coordinating follower SVs; (3) Considering complex disturbances in the entire formation system, finite-time disturbance observers (FDOs) are injected into the FTFC framework which in turn contributes to accurate formation control with fixed-time convergence. Finally, simulation results demonstrate remarkable performance of the proposed FDO-FTFC scheme.