A multi-vehicle system is composed of interconnected vehicles coordinated to complete a certain task. When controlling such systems, the aim is to obtain a coordinated behaviour through local interactions among vehicles and the surrounding environment.One motivating application is the monitoring of algal blooms; this phenomenon occurs frequently and has a substantial negative effect on the environment such as large-scale mortality of fish. In this thesis, we investigate control of multiple unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) for mobile target circumnavigation and tracking, where the target can be an algal bloom area.A protocol based on local measurements provided by the vehicles is developed to estimate the target's location and shape.Then a control strategy is derived that brings the vehicle system to the target while forming a regular polygon. More precisely, we first consider the problem of tracking a mobile target while circumnavigating it with multiple USVs. A satellite image indicates the initial location of the target, which is supposed to have an irregular dynamic shape well approximated by a circle with moving center and varying radius. Each USV is capable of measuring its distance to the boundary of the target and to its center. We design an adaptive protocol to estimate the circle's parameters based on the local measurements. A control protocol then brings the vehicles towards the target boundary as well as spreads them equidistantly along the boundary. The protocols are proved to converge to the desired state. Simulated examples illustrate the performance of the closed-loop system. Secondly, we assume that the vehicles can only measure the distance to the boundary of the target and not to its center. We propose a decentralised least-squares method for target estimation suitable for circular targets. Convergence proofs are given for also this case. An example using simulated algal bloom data shows that the method works well under realistic settings. Finally, we investigate how to extend our protocols to a quite general irregular mobile target. In this case, each vehicle communicates only with its two nearest neighbors and estimates the curvature of the target boundary using their collective measurements. We validate the performance of the protocol under various settings and target shapes through a numerical study. / Multi-fordon-styrsystem består av sammankopplade fordon som koordinerar för att slutföra en given uppgift. I sådana styrsystem är målet att få ett koordinerat beteende via lokala interaktioner mellan fordonen och miljön de vistas i. Ett motiverande exempel är övervakning av algblomning, ett fenomen som inträffar frekvent och har omfattande negativa effekter såsom kraftig mortalitet hos fiskar. I denna rapport undersöker vi hur Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs) kan styras för att cirkulera och spåra ett givet mobilt objekt, till exempel en yta med algblomning. Ett protokoll är utvecklat för att estimera det mobila objektets position och form, baserat på lokala mätningar utförda av fordonen, samt en reglerstrategi tas fram som styr systemet med fordon till objektet samtidigt som de formar en regelbunden polygon.   Mer precist undersöker vi först problemet att samtidigt spåra och cirkulera ett mobilt objekt med USVs. En satellitbild indikerar startpositionen av objektet, antaget att ha en irreguljär tidsvarierande form som kan approximeras väl av en cirkel med tidsberoende center och radie. Varje USV kan mäta avståndet till objektets rand och center. Vi designar ett adaptivt protokoll för att estimera cirkelns parametrar baserat på lokala mätningar. Ett reglerprotokoll styr sedan fordonen mot objektets rand samt sprider ut dem ekvidistant kring randen. Vi bevisar att protokollen konvergerar mot önskat tillstånd. Två simuleringar visar det slutna systemets prestanda.   Sedan antar vi att fordonen endast kan mäta avståndet till randen på objektet, men inte tills dess center. Vi tar fram en decentraliserad minstakvadratmetod för att estimera objektet, lämpligt för cirkulära objekt. Konvergens bevisas även i detta fall. Ett exempel med data från en simulerad algblomning visar att metoden fungerar bra under realistiska scenarion.   Slutligen undersöker vi hur protokollen kan vidareutvecklas för mobila objekt med tämligen generella irreguljära former. I detta fall antar vi att fordonen endast kan kommunicera med sina två närmaste grannar och estimera kurvan för objektets rand från deras samlade mätningar. Vi validerar protokollen via två simuleringar. / <p>QC 20200217</p>

L'objectif de cette thèse est de définir puis d'étudier les performances de méthodes de guidage coopératif de véhicules aériens autonomes. L'intérêt du guidage coopératif est de confier une mission complexe à une flotte, plutôt qu'à un véhicule unique, afin de distribuer la charge de travail et d'améliorer les performances et la fiabilité. Les lois de guidage étudiées sont distribuées sur l'ensemble des véhicules afin d'une part, de répartir la charge de calcul et d'autre part, d'augmenter la fiabilité en éliminant la possibilité de perte de l'organe central de calcul de la commande.La première partie de la thèse porte sur les possibilités offertes par la règle des plus proches voisins. La loi de guidage développée consiste à ce que la commande de chaque véhicule soit élaborée en combinant les états des véhicules voisins. Afin de transmettre des consignes au groupe de véhicules, des objets dénommés agents virtuels sont introduits. Ceux-ci permettent de représenter des obstacles, d'indiquer une direction ou une cible au groupe de véhicules en utilisant des mécanismes déjà présent dans la loi de guidage.La seconde partie de la thèse porte sur les possibilités offertes par la commande prédictive. Ce type de commande consiste à employer un modèle du comportement du système afin de prédire les effets de la commande, et ainsi de déterminer celle qui minimise un critère de coût en respectant les contraintes du système. La loi de guidage développée emploi un critère de coût tenant compte et arbitrant entre les différents aspects de la mission (sécurité, progression de la mission, modération de la commande), et une procédure de recherche de la commande utilisant jeu prédéfinis de commandes candidates afin d'explorer l'espace de commande de manière efficace. Cette procédure, distincte des algorithmes d'optimisation habituels, génère une charge de calcul faible et constante, ne nécessite pas d'étape d'initialisation et est très peu sensible aux minima locaux. / The thesis objective is to define and study the performances of cooperative guidance methods of autonomous aerial vehicles. The interest of cooperative guidance is to entrust a complex mission to a fleet, instead of an isolated vehicle, to distribute the workload and improve performances and reliability. Studied guidance laws are distributed among all vehicles, on one hand to distribute the computation load, and on the other hand to remove the possibility to lose the centralized organ of command computation.The first part deals with the possibilities offered by the nearest neighbour rule. The developed guidance law consists in elaborating the command of each vehicle by combining the states of neighbour vehicles. To transmit instructions to the fleet of vehicles, objects denominated virtual agents are introduced. These allow figuring obstacles, indicating direction or target using existing mechanisms of the guidance law.The second part deals with the possibilities offered by model predictive control. This type of command consists in employing a behavioural model of the system to predict the control effects, and thus finding the one that minimises a cost criterion while respecting system's constraints. The developed guidance law uses a cost criterion that take into account and arbitrate between the several aspects of the mission (safety, mission evolution, control moderation), and a control search procedure based on a predefined set of candidate controls to explore the control space efficiently. This procedure, different from usual optimisation algorithms, generate a low and constant computation load, needs no initialisation step and is little sensitive to local minima.