Theory and Experiments on Enclosing Control of Multi-Agent Systems (original) (raw)
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This paper studies the containment and group dispersion control for a multi-robot system in the presence of dynamic leaders. Each robot is represented by a double-integrator dynamic model and a distributed control algorithm is developed to drive the multi-robot system to follow a group of dynamic leaders with containment and group dispersion behaviors. The effectiveness of the algorithm is then verified on a multi-robot control platform. Citation: Hejin Zhang, Zhiyun Zhao, Zongli Lin. Experimental verification of a multi-robot distributed control algorithm with containment and group dispersion behaviors: the case of dynamic leaders. IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica, 2014, 1(1): 54-60
Leader-following Rendezvous with Connectivity Preservation of Single-integrator Multi-agent Systems
This paper studies the problem of leader-following rendezvous with connectivity preservation for a linear multi-agent system where the leader system is a linear autonomous system and the follower system is a multiple single-integrator system. We develop a distributed state feedback control protocol to maintain the connectivity of the system and, at the same time, to achieve asymptotic tracking of all followers to the output of the leader system. Citation: Yi Dong, Jie Huang. Leader-following rendezvous with connectivity preservation of single-integrator multi-agent systems. IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica, 2014, 1(1): 19-23
IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, 2011
This brief studies distributed containment control for double-integrator dynamics in the presence of both stationary and dynamic leaders. In the case of stationary leaders, we propose a distributed containment control algorithm and study conditions on the network topology and the control gains to guarantee asymptotic containment control in any dimensional space. In the case of dynamic leaders, we study two cases: leaders with an identical velocity and leaders with nonidentical velocities. For the first case, we propose two distributed containment control algorithms to solve, respectively, asymptotic containment control under a switching directed network topology and finite-time containment control under a fixed directed network topology. In particular, asymptotic containment control can be achieved for any dimensional space if the network topology is fixed and for only the 1-D space if the network topology is switching. For the second case, we propose a distributed containment control algorithm under a fixed network topology where the communication patterns among the followers are undirected and derive conditions on the network topology and the control gains to guarantee asymptotic containment control for any dimensional space. Both simulation results and experimental results on a multi-robot platform are provided to validate some theoretical results.
Dynamic Target Enclosing Control Scheme for Multi-Agent Systems via a Signed Graph-Based Approach
IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica, 2023
This letter investigates the target enclosing control problem of multi-agent systems. A signed graph-based control strategy is presented, where the agents are steered to enclose the dynamic target from both sides as they move. This is inspired by the phenomenon that signed networks exhibit bipartite clustering if the underlying graph is structurally balanced, so that the agents may naturally enclose the zero point from opposite sides (+ and −) if proper controllers are applied. By adopting a distributed observer to estimate the information of dynamic target, a consensus-based enclosing control scheme is designed. Furthermore, a complete Laplacian matrix (CLM)-based Lyapunov analysis method is introduced to prove the control stability, which provides simpler theoretical validation for the stability analysis of average consensus than the conventional method based on state transition matrix. Finally, some numerical simulations are shown to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.
Decentralized time-varying formation control for multi-robot systems
In this paper, a distributed controller-observer schema for tracking control of the centroid and of the relative formation of a multi-robot system with first-order dynamics is presented. Each robot of the team uses a distributed observer to es- timate the overall system state and a motion control strategy for tracking control of time-varying centroid and formation. Proof of the overall convergence of the observer-controller schema for different kinds of connection topologies, as well as for the cases of unsaturated and saturated control inputs is presented. In particu- lar, the solution is proven to work in the case of strongly connected topologies, in the case of non-switching topologies, and with balanced strongly connected topologies, in the case of switching topologies. In order to complete the work, the approach is validated by experimental tests with a team of five wheeled mobile robots.
State feedback containment control of multi-agents system with lipschitz nonlinearity
2021
This paper studies the containment control problem of the leader-follower configuration in a multi-agents system included with a type of nonlinearity such as Lipschitz with respect to continuous-time and directed spanning forest communication network topology. A state feedback containment controller is designed and proposed with control theory and the Laplacian network structure where it utilizes the relative information of each agent. The controller designed ensures that the followers are contained by the leaders that form the convex hull formation. For the containment to happen, a minimum of one leader is needed to have a direct communication trajectory to the followers. Lyapunov stability theory is used to provide the stability conditions after analyzing the network structure. Finally, it has been shown from simulation that the followers are contained successfully with the proposed controller.
The coordinated control of autonomous agents
This thesis considers the coordinated control of autonomous agents. The agents are modeled as double integrators, one for each Cartesian dimension. The goal is to force the agents to converge to a formation specified by their desired relative positions. To this end a pair of one-step-ahead optimization based control laws are developed. The control algorithms produce a communication topology that mirrors the geometric formation topology due to the careful choice of the minimized cost functions. Through this equivalence a natural understanding of the relationship between the geometric formation topology and the communication infrastructure is gained. It is shown that the control laws are stable and guarantee convergence for all viable formation topologies. Additionally, velocity constraints can be added to allow the formation to follow fixed or arbitrary time dependent velocities. Both control algorithms only require local information exchange. As additional agents attach to the formation, only those agents that share position constraints with the joining agents need to adjust their control laws. When redundancy is incorporated into the formation topology, it is possible for the system to survive loss of agents or communication channels. In the event that an agent drops out of the formation, only the agents with position interdependence on the lost agent need to adjust their control laws. Finally, if a communication channel is lost, only the agents that share that communication channel must adjust their control laws. The first control law falls into the category of distributed control, since it requires either the global information exchange to compute the formation size or an a priori knowledge of the largest possible formation. The algorithm uses the network size to penalize the control input for each formation. When using a priori knowledge,
The Formation Control of Multi-agent Systems on a Circle
This paper investigates the formation control of a class of multi-agent systems moving on a circle, whose topology is a cyclic graph, and presents several new results for the following two cases:Case I, the agents with single-integrator kinematics, and Case Ⅱ, the agents with double-integrator kinematics. Firstly, for Case I, two control protocols are proposed under which the multiagent systems keep a uniformly-spaced formation. Secondly, we study Case Ⅱ, and a control protocol is designed for this case, then the stability of the formation is proved. Finally, three simulations are studied by using our presented results. The study of illustrative examples with simulations shows that our results as well as designed control protocols work very well in studying the formation control of this class of multi-agent systems.
A Stable Control Algorithm for Multi Robot Formation
IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering
This paper presents the developed trajectory tracking controller for a formation of nonholonomic robots, which combines features from the leader-follower and virtual-structure approaches. The implemented decentralized control strategy allows the robots to be relatively independent and to switch easily between the executed individual tasks and the collective tasks. Convergence is thoroughly analyzed and guarantied using the Lyapunov approach.
A Centralized Framework to Multi-robots Formation Control: Theory and Application
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2011
This paper presents a geometric approach to multi-robots group formation with connectivity preservation (from a graph-theoretic perspective) among group members. The controller demonstrates consistency among different formations, as well as stability while performing dynamic switching between formations. Inter-robots collision avoidance is delivered through formation preservation, while permitting high degree of formation re-adjustability. It has been proven that such formation approach would result into complete, isomorphic formations (with regards to its first and second isogonic) with edge connectivity λ(G) = 1 4 n(n−1), and a unique, shortest connectivity link among group members. The complete connectivity along with the isomorphic property of the formations would, in essence, not only guarantee that the communication among the robotic agents will be preserved, but also relax the topological requirements for message passing among group members that might be needed while switching between different formations. In addition, the existence of the inter-robot shortest connectivity link at the group level, would ease the message routing once the information sharing among all the members of the group is necessary.