Bearing-only formation control of multi-agent systems in local reference frames

Abstract

In this paper, the bearing-only formation control problem of multi-agent systems in local reference frame is studied. By considering that the inter-agent communication topology satisfies the maximal clique graph condition, the formation control can achieve global stability due to the existence of common agents among the maximal cliques. A cost function is proposed based on the target formation. By minimising the cost function under the optimal rotate matrix, a distributed globally stable controller is proposed, which only depends on the local bearing measurement. Then the rotation bias of the final formation and the target formation are analysed. The designed control law can realise the global formation control under the local reference frame. Finally the simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller.

Keywords:

• Multi-agent system
• bearing formation control
• global stability

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant numbers 61375105, 61403334].