Target tracking control of multiple unmanned surface vehicles based on distributed extended state observer

In this paper, the target tracking control problem of multiple unmanned surface vehicles (multi-USVs) based on relative states information and data fusion is studied with underactuation and disturbances. Firstly, the concepts of relative position and relative velocity are proposed in view of the fact that the target USV does not actively transmit states information and some sensors can only measure distance. Then, a novel distributed extended state observer is designed to enable each tracking USV to estimate the position and velocity of the target USV. Secondly, a novel data fusion algorithm is proposed to obtain the accurate estimation of the position and velocity of the target USV. Then, the distributed position and velocity tracking errors are proposed, based on which, an integral backstepping sliding mode distributed controller is designed. An exponential reaching law is introduced to improve the dynamic response of the tracking USVs. Finally, the mathematical proof that the proposed controller can realise target tracking is given. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the controller, distributed extended state observer and data fusion algorithm.