Distributed estimation and control of mobile sensor networks based only on position measurements

Most existing distributed estimation and control algorithms for mobile sensor networks rely on the information of both position and velocity of neighbour sensors. The authors' investigate the distributed estimation and control of mobile sensor network with only position measurements. Based on the Kalman‐consensus filter and the flocking algorithm, all mobile sensors move to a target, and achieve consensus on the estimations of the target. Under the assumption that the initial interactive network is connected, the stability of the cascading system is proved via Lyapunov stability theory and matrix principle. Moreover, a sufficient stability condition in the form of the boundary conditions of the feedback gain is proposed for the mobile sensor network. Some numerical examples are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of theoretical results.