Predefined-time cooperative formation control of heterogeneous unmanned surface vehicle-unmanned aerial vehicle systems with uncertain dynamic estimation

Abstract This work addresses the distributed predefined-time cooperative formation of heterogeneous multiagent systems comprising unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with inherent dynamic uncertainties. By transforming the model coordinates, the underactuated heterogeneous USV-UAV systems can be converted into a fully actuated second-order multiagent framework. Subsequently, a predefined-time dynamic observer is designed to estimate the uncertain dynamics of each agent. Combining the backstepping method and the virtual leader model, a predefined-time distributed cooperative formation control based on uncertain dynamic estimation is designed for the heterogeneous USV-UAV systems. The convergence of the formation errors is rigorously demonstrated by constructing a suitable Lyapunov function under a predefined time framework. Ultimately, the two numerical cases in both the fixed and time-varying formation scenarios confirm the effectiveness of the constructed method.