A low-complexity ship platooning framework for underactuated vessels: design, simulation, and field experiments

This study proposes a low-complexity ship platooning framework in which a manned leader vessel determines the route and unmanned followers autonomously track it. A trackpoint-based path-following mechanism generates and updates target points from the leader's actual trajectory, enabling stable tracking without complex formation-control algorithms. Each follower combines Line-of-Sight (LOS) guidance with a Proportional–Derivative (PD) course controller tuned on an identified AutoRegressive with eXogenous input (ARX) model, and keeps its spacing through a distance-keeping logic derived from the ship safety domain concept. Simulations in column and wedge formations confirmed small cross-track errors and stable spacing even during turning manoeuvres. Field experiments in coastal waters with three 1-metre-class model boats further validated the framework under wind, waves, GPS errors, and communication variability without formation degradation. The contribution is an integrated, low-complexity realisation, validated end-to-end from system identification to coastal field experiments; in simulation the framework matches an established look-ahead LOS path-following method while substantially outperforming a fixed-offset LOS. The proposed ship-platooning framework provides an initial field validation of stable path-following and distance-keeping under mild real-world disturbances without assuming fully actuated vessel dynamics or complex multi-agent coordination, confirming its practical feasibility for underactuated vessels in real maritime environments.