Distributed Optimal Formation Control for Unmanned Surface Vessels by a Regularized Game-Based Approach

Dear Editor, This letter explores optimal formation control for a network of unmanned surface vessels (USVs). By designing an individual objective function for each USV, the optimal formation problem is transformed into a noncooperative game. Under this game theoretic framework, the optimal formation is achieved by seeking the Nash equilibrium of the regularized game. A modular structure consisting of a distributed Nash equilibrium seeker and a regulator is proposed, which is theoretically shown to be effective to steer USVs towards the optimal formation. A numerical simulation example is provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.