Data-driven coordinated path-following of multiple marine surface vehicles with input saturations

In this paper, the coordinated path-following problem of multiple marine surface vehicles (MSVs) in narrow waterways and considering the widespread disturbances, uncertainties, and input constraints is innovatively solved by creating a novel coordinated surge-heading guidance-based direct data-driven constrained control (CSH-DDCC) approach. Salient contributions are fourfold: 1) By devising a line-of-sight (LOS) based single path parameter updating law and a discrete reduced-order extended state observer (RESO) based multiple path parameter dynamics estimator, a coordinated surge-heading (CSH) guidance law is first developed to ensure both asymptotic tracking of each vehicle along the reference path and accurate coordination among these vehicles. 2) Within the devised CSH guidance scheme and by deploying the dynamic anti-windup compensation technique, a novel direct data-driven constrained control (DDCC) law is further proposed to efficiently deal with the model-unavailable deficiency and input constraints at the dynamic level. 3) The asymptotically coordinated path-following of the entire closed-loop CSH-DDCC system can be strictly guaranteed via Lyapunov synthesis. Finally, simulation studies pertaining to a fleet of prototype MSVs are conducted to verify the efficiency.