Exploration of Formation Control Algorithms for Unmanned Surface Vehicles
Abstract
Unmanned surface vehicles (USV) and small combatant craft swarms are in increasing demand as adversarial forces develop their capabilities. The United States Navy is exploring the use of USV swarms for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions, hydrographic data collection, and surface vessel force protection. Currently, there are several different algorithms for controlling swarms consisting of the same platform. The discussion of the implementation of formation control algorithms on heterogeneous swarms is scarce. Heterogeneous swarms are formations consisting of vehicles with dissimilar dynamics. Example algorithms include the rigid formation control (RFC) algorithm and virtual bodies and artificial potential fields (VBAP). Through simulation testing, this thesis analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of the different formation control algorithms based on complexity of the software, ability to maintain a given formation shape, and overall robustness. The algorithms are also evaluated on their ability to command a heterogeneous swarm.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 2023
- Accession Number
- AD1225451
Entities
People
- Jennifer T. Nguyen
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School