Angle-based leaderless formation maneuvering with global convergence

Much of the existing research on formation maneuvering control is based on a leader-follower framework, in which one or more leaders track a desired trajectory or velocity, and the rest adapt to it. However, if a leader fails, the desired maneuvering is typically compromised. Alternatively, some studies on formation maneuvering control introduce designed mismatches within a leaderless framework, but these mismatches must be determined offline, and most such methods only achieve local convergence to the desired maneuver. To address these issues, this paper investigates the problem of angle-rigid formation maneuvering control with simultaneous scaling, rotation, and translation in leaderless multi-agent systems. Without requiring offline-designed mismatches for a predetermined maneuver, a formation maneuvering control law is proposed, generating a virtual velocity signal derived from angle constraints within the desired triangles. Combined with a distributed estimation algorithm, the proposed method ensures that the closed-loop multi-agent system globally achieves the desired angle rigid formation maneuvering in a fully distributed manner. Furthermore, to enable implementation in agents’ local coordinate frames, a finite-time orientation alignment algorithm is developed. The effectiveness of the proposed control strategies is validated through three simulation examples.