AFCS (ASV Formation Control Simulator)

AFCS is a modular MATLAB simulator for multi-ASV formation control, trajectory generation, and robust obstacle avoidance in various marine environments. It provides ASV dynamics models, environment simulation (wind, waves, currents, static/dynamic obstacles), and distributed/decentralized control algorithms (including MPC, ADMM, graph-based strategies, etc.) for academic research, teaching, and engineering applications.

Main Features

• Multi-ASV cooperative motion and formation control
• Path and trajectory generation (including task switching and structure reconfiguration)
• Nonlinear MPC with collision avoidance (static and dynamic obstacles)
• Environmental disturbance modeling (wind, wave, current)
• Flexible and extensible code structure, easy for customization
• Rich visualization: animated ASV formation, obstacle interaction, tracking performance, etc.

Citation

If you use this simulator for academic work, please cite:

For algorithms and hydrodynamic modeling, you may also refer to:

T. I. Fossen (2021). Handbook of Marine Craft Hydrodynamics and Motion Control. 2nd. Edition, Wiley. ISBN-13: 978-1119575054 H. Yasukawa, Y. Yoshimura, Introduction of mmg standard method for ship maneuvering predictions, Journal of marine science and technology 20 (2015) 37–52. M. A. Lewis, K.-H. Tan, High precision formation control of mobile robots using virtual structures, Autonomous robots 4 (1997) 387–403. Z. Sun, G. Zhang, Y. Lu, W. Zhang, Leader-follower formation control of underactuated surface vehicles based on sliding mode control and parameter estimation, ISA transactions 72 (2018) 15–24. B. S. Park, S. J. Yoo, An error transformation approach for connectivity-preserving and collision-avoiding formation tracking of networked uncertain underactuated surface vessels, IEEE transactions on cybernetics 49 (2018) 2955–2966. R. Isherwood, Wind resistance of merchant ships, Trans. RINA 115 (1973) 327–338. W. Blendermann, Parameter identification of wind loads on ships, Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics 51 (1994) 339–351. Y. Yang, J. Du, H. Liu, C. Guo, A. Abraham, A trajectory tracking robust controller of surface vessels with disturbance uncertainties, IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology 22 (2013) 1511–1518. G. Wen, J. Lam, J. Fu, S. Wang, Distributed mpc-based robust collision avoidance formation navigation of constrained multiple usvs, IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Vehicles 9 (2023) 1804–1816.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Authors & Acknowledgements

This simulator is developed and maintained by:

• Wenxiang Wu (Wuhan University of Technology)
• Chenguang Liu (Wuhan University of Technology)
• Zhibo He (Wuhan University of Technology)
• Huimin Chen (Wuhan University of Technology)
• Wenzhou Yan (Wuhan University of Technology)
• Chenguang Wang (Wuhan University of Technology)
• Bo Liu (Wuhan University of Technology)
• Haihong Wang (Wuhan University of Technology)
• Xiumin Chu (Wuhan University of Technology)

Special thanks to Prof. Liu for guidance and to all early users who provided feedback.

Feedback & Contribution

• Bug reports, feature requests, or code improvements are welcome.
• Please submit issues via GitHub Issues.
• For major code contributions, please create a pull request and briefly describe your changes.