Multi-target localisation and circumnavigation by a multi-agent system with bearing measurements in 2D space

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates the problem of multi-target localisation and circumnavigation by a multi-agent system in two-dimensional space, where each target's bearing measurement can be obtained by at least one agent. Both stationary and slowly-moving targets are considered. An estimator is designed to estimate the target position; then a distributed estimation algorithm is designed for each agent to cooperatively estimate the centroid of multi-target; and finally, based on the first two steps, a circumnavigation controller is devised to guarantee that each agent circumnavigates all targets around the multi-target centroid with a desired radius. The convergence of the estimation algorithm and the stability of the circumnavigation controller are proved. A numerical simulation is provided to verify the correctness of the conclusion and the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

KEYWORDS:

• Localisation
• circumnavigation
• multi-agent system
• bearing measurement

Acknowledgments

The authors highly appreciate the associate editor and anonymous reviewers' great efforts in reviewing our manuscript and for providing many helpful coments and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict to interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 61573105]; the Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China [grant number 20130092130002].

Notes on contributors

JingPing Shao

Jingping Shao received his B.S. degree in Mathematics from Zhoukou Normal University, Zhoukou, China, in 2009, and his Master degree in Mathematics from Xidian University, Xi'an, China, in 2012, respectively. He is currently working towards his Ph.D. degree in Control Theory and Control Engineering at Southeast University, Nanjing, China. His research interests include distributed control of multi-agent system and cooperative target localisation.

Yu-Ping Tian

Yu-Ping Tian received his Bachelor degree from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, in 1986, Ph.D. degree from Moscow Power Institute, Moscow, USSR, in 1991, and Sc.D. degree from Taganrog State Radio-engineering University, Taganrog, Russia, in 1996. All his degrees are in Electrical Engineering. Since 1992, he has been with Southeast University, Nanjing, China, where he is a Professor with School of Automation. He held visiting positions with Central Queensland University, Australia, University of California at Berkeley, and the City University of Hong Kong. He has published three books including Frequency-Domain Analysis and Design of Distributed Control Systems (John Wiley & Sons, 2012). His research interests are in the fields of control theory and engineering including distributed control and optimization, sensor networks, robotics, etc. He is the recipient of the Chang Jiang Distinguished Professorship awarded by the Education Ministry of China and the Distinguished Young Scholar Award of the National Natural Science Foundation of China.