Cooperative circumnavigation for a mobile target using adaptive estimation

Abstract

In this paper we consider the problem of tracking a mobile target using adaptive estimation while circumnavigating it with a system of Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs). The mobile target considered is an irregular dynamic shape approximated by a circle with moving centre and varying radius. The USV system is composed of n USVs of which one is equipped with an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) capable of measuring both the distance to the boundary of the target and to its centre. This USV equipped with the UAV uses adaptive estimation to calculate the location and size of the mobile target. The USV system must circumnavigate the boundary of the target while forming a regular polygon. We design two algorithms: One for the adaptive estimation of the target using the UAV’s measurements and another for the control protocol to be applied by all USVs in their navigation. The convergence of both algorithms to the desired state is proved up to a limit bound. Two simulated examples are provided to verify the performance of the algorithms designed in this paper.