Coverage control with global connectivity maintenance for multiple stratospheric airships

Stratospheric airships offer flexible and extensive coverage for the communication service and earth observation when deployed in formations. However, limited communication ranges may lead to network disconnection during dispersed movements. This paper presents a hierarchical guidance algorithm addressing coverage deployment, connectivity maintenance, and windward station-keeping for multiple stratospheric airships. The proposed guidance modifies nominal deployed positions, making it well-suited for underactuated systems and station-keeping scenarios. A novel discrete distributed estimator is introduced to evaluate algebraic connectivity. Furthermore, a motion control strategy based on Control Barrier Functions is developed for precise longitudinal velocity and yaw control under thrust limitation. Extensive simulations validate the framework’s effectiveness in maintaining connectivity near a predefined threshold, optimizing coverage, and ensuring stable formation behavior. The approach outperforms the baselines and demonstrates strong potential for broader application to underactuated platforms such as unmanned surface vehicles and autonomous ground vehicles, which face similar constraints and environmental disturbances.