Distributed Adaptive Bipartite Time-Varying Formation Control for Heterogeneous Unknown Nonlinear Multi-Agent Systems

This paper investigates the bipartite time-varying formation control problem for a class of heterogeneous unknown nonlinear multi-agent systems. This bipartite time-varying formation is composed of two sub-formations whose relationship is opposite. By parameterization the unknown nonlinear items of all agents, a distributed adaptive proportional-integral protocol is presented under undirected signed topology to ensure the convergence of the bipartite time-varying formation error. Some sufficient conditions for choosing suitable control parameters are given. In the case of systems with external time-varying but bounded disturbances, the uniformly ultimate boundedness of the formation error and its integration can be guaranteed by the proposed control protocol. A simulative example is provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed protocol.

Automated summary

This paper investigates the time-varying formation control problem for a class of heterogeneous unknown nonlinear multi-agent systems and proposes a distributed adaptive proportional-integral protocol to ensure the convergence of formation error, along with some conditions for choosing suitable control parameters. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed protocol.