Formation Control of Multiple Autonomous Vehicle Systems

8 Formation Control of Robotic Systems

This chapter focuses on the sensing and control aspects of MVS formations. Two formation‐control laws – synchronization and passivity – are applied to conventional leader–follower formation control in simulation, and their performances are compared. Additionally, a low‐cost omnivision sensor and concomitant visual tracking algorithms are developed and tested in formation‐keeping experiments.

8.1 Introduction

Over the past decade, there has been a growing interest in the control of autonomous multi‐agent robotic systems. Compared to single‐agent systems, these are more robust to individual agent failure, can be reconfigured with greater ease, and have more flexible functionality [12]. It is often expected that a group of robots will maintain a predefined formation during task execution. This is done using formation control, driving each robot in a group to a desired reference position and orientation relative to the others [12].

Formation‐keeping has many applications. For example, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can reduce drag and improve fuel efficiency by flying in a V‐shape [13]. When carrying out ground surveillance or search‐and‐rescue missions, sparse formations are needed to maximize combined UAV sensor coverage [14]. On the ground, formation control has many applications in unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) convoys and patrols [15]. In space, a group of spacecraft equipped with interferometers and traveling in formation can ...