Hierarchical control of multiple tugboats with constraint-driven model-following control
This paper presents a novel hierarchical control architecture designed for navigating multiple tugboats to perform complex maneuvers, including approaching, enclosing, and capturing a large target vessel, while taking into account external disturbances and operational constraints. The proposed hiera...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2025-12-01
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| Series: | SICE Journal of Control, Measurement, and System Integration |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/18824889.2025.2521907 |
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| _version_ | 1850111224614748160 |
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| author | Satoshi Otsuki Miki Taya Kenichi Nakashima Takeshi Hatanaka |
| author_facet | Satoshi Otsuki Miki Taya Kenichi Nakashima Takeshi Hatanaka |
| author_sort | Satoshi Otsuki |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper presents a novel hierarchical control architecture designed for navigating multiple tugboats to perform complex maneuvers, including approaching, enclosing, and capturing a large target vessel, while taking into account external disturbances and operational constraints. The proposed hierarchical control architecture includes a high-level nominal controller for trajectory generation, tracking, and coordination, and a low-level model-following controller for multitask execution. The low-level controller integrates constraint-driven control to refine nominal control inputs generated by the high-level controller, and local control to mitigate disturbances. To achieve multitask execution across all phases, the constraint-driven controller activates only essential constraints, enforcing seamless maneuver transitions without relying on ad-hoc controller switching. Specifically, we design constraints to facilitate effective enclosing behaviour while guiding the tugboat fleet toward the target in formation. We also adopt a so-called Prescribed-Time Safety Filter to enforce mild contact with the surface of the target vessel within a specified finite-time interval. Simulation studies validate the proposed control architecture across all maneuvers throughout the operation and demonstrate its capability to achieve complex multi-tugboat coordination. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-00d236f34a1a4d5a95db771e71b53ceb |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1884-9970 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-12-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | SICE Journal of Control, Measurement, and System Integration |
| spelling | doaj-art-00d236f34a1a4d5a95db771e71b53ceb2025-08-20T02:37:39ZengTaylor & Francis GroupSICE Journal of Control, Measurement, and System Integration1884-99702025-12-0118110.1080/18824889.2025.25219072521907Hierarchical control of multiple tugboats with constraint-driven model-following controlSatoshi Otsuki0Miki Taya1Kenichi Nakashima2Takeshi Hatanaka3Institute of Science TokyoInstitute of Technology TokyoSystem Technology Development Center, Kawasaki Heavy IndustriesInstitute of Science TokyoThis paper presents a novel hierarchical control architecture designed for navigating multiple tugboats to perform complex maneuvers, including approaching, enclosing, and capturing a large target vessel, while taking into account external disturbances and operational constraints. The proposed hierarchical control architecture includes a high-level nominal controller for trajectory generation, tracking, and coordination, and a low-level model-following controller for multitask execution. The low-level controller integrates constraint-driven control to refine nominal control inputs generated by the high-level controller, and local control to mitigate disturbances. To achieve multitask execution across all phases, the constraint-driven controller activates only essential constraints, enforcing seamless maneuver transitions without relying on ad-hoc controller switching. Specifically, we design constraints to facilitate effective enclosing behaviour while guiding the tugboat fleet toward the target in formation. We also adopt a so-called Prescribed-Time Safety Filter to enforce mild contact with the surface of the target vessel within a specified finite-time interval. Simulation studies validate the proposed control architecture across all maneuvers throughout the operation and demonstrate its capability to achieve complex multi-tugboat coordination.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/18824889.2025.2521907constraint-driven controlhierarchical controlcoordinated controlmodel-following controlunmanned surface vehicles |
| spellingShingle | Satoshi Otsuki Miki Taya Kenichi Nakashima Takeshi Hatanaka Hierarchical control of multiple tugboats with constraint-driven model-following control SICE Journal of Control, Measurement, and System Integration constraint-driven control hierarchical control coordinated control model-following control unmanned surface vehicles |
| title | Hierarchical control of multiple tugboats with constraint-driven model-following control |
| title_full | Hierarchical control of multiple tugboats with constraint-driven model-following control |
| title_fullStr | Hierarchical control of multiple tugboats with constraint-driven model-following control |
| title_full_unstemmed | Hierarchical control of multiple tugboats with constraint-driven model-following control |
| title_short | Hierarchical control of multiple tugboats with constraint-driven model-following control |
| title_sort | hierarchical control of multiple tugboats with constraint driven model following control |
| topic | constraint-driven control hierarchical control coordinated control model-following control unmanned surface vehicles |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/18824889.2025.2521907 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT satoshiotsuki hierarchicalcontrolofmultipletugboatswithconstraintdrivenmodelfollowingcontrol AT mikitaya hierarchicalcontrolofmultipletugboatswithconstraintdrivenmodelfollowingcontrol AT kenichinakashima hierarchicalcontrolofmultipletugboatswithconstraintdrivenmodelfollowingcontrol AT takeshihatanaka hierarchicalcontrolofmultipletugboatswithconstraintdrivenmodelfollowingcontrol |