Rotary enclosing control of second-order multi-agent systems for a group of targets

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates the rotary enclosing control of a second-order multi-agent system around a group of moving targets. The concepts of the central estimator and the rotary enclosing control for targets are introduced. Based on the target estimators, the enclosing control protocol is constructed and the convergency of the control protocol is established. With the proposed control protocol, the given enclosing structure can be achieved and the agents can keep on moving in rotatory formation according to given centripetal acceleration. Finally, simulation studies are carried out by using the proposed method so as to demonstrate its applicability.

KEYWORDS:

• Multi-agent systems
• rotary enclosing
• exploring depth
• distributed control
• central estimator

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the reviewers and editors for their constructive comments and suggestions that greatly improved the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 61450010]; the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [grant number ZYGX2013J124]; a Discovery Grant from the Australian Research Council [grant number DP140100289].

Notes on contributors

Y. J. Shi

Ying Jing Shi was born in Jilin Province, China. He received his PhD degree from Harbin Institute of Technology, China, in 2008. He has been with the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China since 2008. Currently, he is an associate professor with the School of Automation Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. Since August 2013, he has been a visiting scholar with the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Curtin University of Technology, Australia. His research interests include aircraft control, system modelling and simulation, multi-agent systems, and robust control.

R. Li

Rui Li was born in Heilongjiang Province, China. She received her PhD degree in control science and engineering from Harbin Institute of Technology, China, in 2008. She joined the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China in 2008. She is currently an associate professor in the School of Automation Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. Previously, she worked as a visiting research associate with the Department of Applied Mathematics, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University for half a year and as a visiting research associate with the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Curtin University of Technology for one year. From September 2011 to September 2012, she was a visiting scholar with the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of California at Riverside. Her research interests include optimisation theory and optimal control, nonlinear control, multi-agent systems and aircraft control. She is a member of IEEE.

K. L. Teo

K.L. Teo received his PhD degree in electrical engineering from the University of Ottawa, Canada. He has worked at the Department of Applied Mathematics, University of New South Wales, Australia, the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, and the Department of Mathematics, the University of Western Australia, Australia. In 1996, he joined the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Curtin University of Technology, Australia, as a professor. He then took up the position of chair professor and head of Applied Mathematics at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China, from 1999 to 2004. He is currently a distinguished professor of the Mathematics and Statistics at Curtin University of Technology. He has published 5 books and over 300 journal papers. He is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Industrial and Management Optimization, and Dynamics of Continuous, Discrete and Impulsive Systems, Series B. He is the regional editor of Nonlinear Dynamics and Systems Theory. He also serves as an associate editor of a number of international journals, including Automatica, Journal of Global Optimization, Optimization and Engineering, Discrete and Continuous Dynamic Systems (Series A and Series B), Dynamics of Continuous, Discrete and Impulsive Systems, Series A, Optimization Letters, and Journal of Inequality and Applications. His research interests include both the theoretical and practical aspects of optimal control and optimisation, and their practical applications such as signal processing in telecommunications, and financial portfolio optimisation.