Cooperative Circumnavigation for Multiple Unmanned Surface Vehicles Without External Localization

2026-06-03

AI Summary

This work addresses the problem of maintaining a uniform circular formation among multiple unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) around a target without external positioning. To this end, it proposes a heterogeneous perception strategy that integrates active ranging, passive direction-of-arrival estimation, and inter-vehicle communication. The approach employs maximum correntropy Kalman filtering to estimate relative positions between USVs and pseudo-linear Kalman filtering to infer the relative pose between each USV and the target. A formation controller based on coupled oscillators is designed to achieve coordinated circumnavigation. Notably, this is the first method to combine heterogeneous sensing with coupled-oscillator-based control, ensuring system observability while satisfying persistent excitation conditions to guarantee state estimation accuracy. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed scheme effectively maintains a stable, uniform circular formation at the desired radius.

Abstract

This paper proposes a cooperative target circumnavigation framework for multiple unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) operating without external localization. The objective is to maintain a uniform circular formation of a specified radius around a target using only limited onboard sensing. The framework adopts a heterogeneous perception strategy that distinguishes between the asymmetric sensing relationships with the target and among the USVs. Specifically, the USVs obtain relative range and displacement measurements through active perception and inter-vehicle communication, while bearing measurements to a non-cooperative target are acquired via passive sensors. To estimate relative positions--both among USVs and between each USV and the target--we employ a Maximum Correntropy Kalman Filter and a Pseudo-Linear Kalman Filter, respectively. A coupled oscillator-based formation controller is designed to ensure system observability while achieving circumnavigation. Theoretical analysis demonstrates that the controller ensures the relative motions between the USVs, as well as that between each USV and the target, satisfy the persistent excitation condition, thereby guaranteeing observability of the Kalman-based filters. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is validated through numerical simulations.

Problem

• Cooperative Circumnavigation
• Unmanned Surface Vehicles
• External Localization
• Formation Control
• Target Tracking

Innovation

• Cooperative Circumnavigation
• Heterogeneous Perception
• Maximum Correntropy Kalman Filter
• Pseudo-Linear Kalman Filter
• Coupled Oscillator-based Control