A novel alignment repulsion algorithm for flocking of multi-agent systems based on the number of neighbours per agent

Abstract

In this paper, an energy-based control methodology is proposed to satisfy the Reynolds three rules in a flock of multiple agents. First, a control law is provided that is directly derived from the passivity theorem. In the next step, the Number of Neighbours Alignment/Repulsion algorithm is introduced for a flock of agents which loses the cohesion ability and uniformly joint connectivity condition. With this method, each agent tries to follow the agents which escape its neighbourhood by considering the velocity of escape time and number of neighbours. It is mathematically proved that the motion of multiple agents converges to a rigid and uncrowded flock if the group is jointly connected just for an instant. Moreover, the conditions for collision avoidance are guaranteed during the entire process. Finally, simulation results are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed methodology.

Keywords:

• multi-agent systems
• passivity-based control
• flock
• escape time
• Lyapunov stability

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.