A cooperative control framework for path following of UAV-USV cooperative system in maritime scenarios

Abstract

The cooperative control of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Unmanned Surface Vehicles presents a promising strategy for maritime rescue operations. This study develops a dynamic modeling framework that captures the coupled kinematics and dynamics of UAV-USV systems in challenging marine environments. Leveraging the system’s differential flatness, a coordinated trajectory generation method is proposed to achieve synchronized motion planning of aerial and surface agents along complex search and rescue paths. For the UAV, a tracking controller is designed to follow the USV’s maneuvers in real time while compensating for environmental disturbances. For the USV, seakeeping responses—namely heave, roll, and pitch—are predicted for multiple wave directions, followed by maneuvering zigzag tests to validate model fidelity and control accuracy. Numerical predictions show strong agreement with experimental measurements and existing simulation results, confirming the model’s capability to accurately reproduce platform motions. Compared with conventional leader-follower and waypoint-following approaches, the proposed method delivers higher trajectory accuracy, faster convergence, and greater robustness to dynamic uncertainties. The results indicate that the framework provides a resilient and scalable solution for autonomous multi-agent maritime rescue missions.