Information flow and cooperative control of vehicle formations

We consider the problem of cooperation among a collection of vehicles performing a shared task using intervehicle communication to coordinate their actions. Tools from algebraic graph theory prove useful in modeling the communication network and relating its topology to formation stability. We prove a Nyquist criterion that uses the eigenvalues of the graph Laplacian matrix to determine the effect of the communication topology on formation stability. We also propose a method for decentralized information exchange between vehicles. This approach realizes a dynamical system that supplies each vehicle with a common reference to be used for cooperative motion. We prove a separation principle that decomposes formation stability into two components: Stability of this is achieved information flow for the given graph and stability of an individual vehicle for the given controller. The information flow can thus be rendered highly robust to changes in the graph, enabling tight formation control despite limitations in intervehicle communication capability

Distributed Consensus of Linear Multi-Agent Systems with Switching Directed Topologies

This paper addresses the distributed consensus problem for a linear multi-agent system with switching directed communication topologies. By appropriately introducing a linear transformation, the consensus problem is equivalently converted to a stabilization problem for a class of switched linear systems. Some sufficient consensus conditions are then derived by using tools from the matrix theory and stability analysis of switched systems. It is proved that consensus in such a multi-agent system can be ensured if each agent is stabilizable and each possible directed topology contains a directed spanning tree. Finally, a numerical simulation is given for illustration.Comment: The paper will be presented at the 2014 Australian Control Conference (AUCC 2014), Canberra, Australi