Safe Guidance Strategy for Affine Formation Manoeuvre of ASVs Using the Interference Vector Method

This paper presents a safe guidance strategy for affine formations based on the Interference Vector Method (IVM) to address dynamic formation guidance and collision avoidance for Autonomous Surface Vessels (ASVs) in multi-obstacle environments. An affine formation control framework is first adopted to enable dynamic formation transformations for the Autonomous Surface Vessel (ASV) fleet. Building on this, an IVM-based obstacle avoidance method is developed, enabling the formation to evade both static and dynamic obstacles in real time. Furthermore, a course guidance law based on the Vector Field Method (VFM) and a speed magnitude guidance law based on Control Barrier Functions (CBFs) are proposed to simultaneously achieve formation guidance and prevent inter-vessel collisions. The proposed safe guidance strategy is rigorously validated through theoretical proofs and comprehensive numerical simulations. The simulation results further confirm the robustness of the obstacle avoidance algorithm under ideal perception conditions, as well as the practical applicability of the overall strategy in complex, obstacle-rich environments.