  A multi-unmanned surface vessel (USV) formation control system is established
on a novel platform composed of three 1.2 meter-long hydraulic jet propulsion
surface vessels, a differential GPS reference station, and inter-vessel Zigbee
communication modules. The system is also equipped with an upper level
collective multi-USV protocol and a lower level vessel dynamics controller. The
system is capable of chasing and surrounding a target vessel. The results are
supported by rigorous theoretical analysis in terms of asymptotical surrounding
behavior and trajectory regulation. Extensive experiments are conducted to
demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed hardware and
software architectures.
