Flocking of multi-agent systems with multiple groups

In this paper, we consider the flocking problem of multi-agent systems with multiple groups. First, some algorithms using local information are designed to divide the agents into any pre-assigned number of groups in fixed and switching heterogeneous networks, respectively. Based on algebraic graph theory and Barbalat’s lemma, convergence criteria are established to ensure velocity alignment and cohesion of each subgroup as well as collision avoidance between any agents in the whole group. Second, an algorithm for homogeneous networks is studied. Simulation examples are finally presented to verify the effectiveness of our theoretical results.