Distributed scaling control of rigid formations
This work addresses formation control for multi-agent systems, offering an incremental improvement by combining existing theories for enhanced motion manipulation.
The paper tackles the problem of controlling the collective motion of rigid formations by manipulating steady-state motion through distributed parameters, achieving simultaneous translational and angular velocities with controlled scaling.
Recently it has been reported that biased range-measurements among neighboring agents in the gradient distance-based formation control can lead to predictable collective motion. In this paper we take advantage of this effect and by introducing distributed parameters to the prescribed inter-distances we are able to manipulate the steady-state motion of the formation. This manipulation is in the form of inducing simultaneously the combination of constant translational and angular velocities and a controlled scaling of the rigid formation. While the computation of the distributed parameters for the translational and angular velocities is based on the well-known graph rigidity theory, the parameters responsible for the scaling are based on some recent findings in bearing rigidity theory. We carry out the stability analysis of the modified gradient system and simulations in order to validate the main result.