Title
Formation control and coordinated tracking via asymptotic decoupling for Lagrangian multi-agent systems
Abstract
We study the problem of formation control and trajectory tracking for a group of robotic systems modeled by Lagrangian dynamics. The objective is to achieve and maintain a stable formation for a group of multi-agent systems, while guaranteeing tracking of a specified trajectory. In order to do so, we partition the state space for the collective system into coordinates of the geometric center of mass of the group and coordinates that describe the relative positions of the robots with respect to the center of mass, thus defining the formation shape. The relative positions can be further partitioned in coordinates which describe the absolute distances and orientation of each robot to the center of mass. We can rewrite the total system as dynamics of the center of mass of the formation, and dynamics of the shape, where the systems are, in general, coupled. By imposing holonomic constraints between the subsystems (i.e., imposing a configuration constraint) and hence reducing the system's dimension, we guarantee that the group can be driven to follow a desired trajectory as a unique rigid body. Using high gain feedback, we achieve asymptotic decoupling between the center of mass and the shape dynamics and the analysis is performed using a singular perturbation method. In fact, the resulting system is a singularly perturbed system where the shape dynamics describe the boundary layer while the center of mass dynamics describes the reduced system. After an initial fast transient in which the robots lock to the desired shape, a slower tracking phase follows in which the center of mass converges to a desired trajectory while maintaining a stable formation.
Year
DOI
Venue
2011
10.1016/j.automatica.2011.08.030
Automatica
Keywords
Field
DocType
Stability of nonlinear systems,Singular perturbation,Multi-agent systems,Formation control,Collision avoidance,Proximity
Mathematical optimization,Holonomic constraints,Control theory,Decoupling (cosmology),Rigid body,Singular perturbation,Shape dynamics,Center of mass,State space,Mathematics,Trajectory
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
47
11
0005-1098
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
18
0.72
12
Authors
4
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Silvia Mastellone11699.45
Juan S. Mejia2402.83
Dušan M. Stipanović329313.47
Mark W. Spong42187209.62