Mutual-Rendezvous Control and Feature-Compatible Landing Optimization for Heterogeneous UAV–USV Fleets

In this article, we propose a mutual-rendezvous controller to guide the heterogeneous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) to approach close enough such that the states of the USVs become available for the UAVs through limited-range communication and observation. By this means, we design a coordinated landing algorithm for UAVs to land on feature-compatible USVs according to optimal pairwise heterogeneous feature matching. Significantly, a minimum-energy operation execution framework is developed by formulating control barrier function (CBF) constraints that encode subgroup formation, leader rendezvous, collision avoidance, and connectivity maintenance. This framework enables the UAVs and USVs to independently achieve their designated circular formations and coordinate rendezvous, relying solely on communication between the leading UAV and USV. Subsequently, a landing optimization strategy is devised for the UAVs, incorporating heterogeneous feature compatibility, allocation requirements, and collision-free landing convergence through additional CBF constraints. The sufficient conditions for the asymptotic convergence of the resulting closed-loop systems are derived. Finally, extensive simulations are performed to verify the effectiveness and robustness of the present design.