Consensus strategies for cooperative control of vehicle formations

Extensions of a consensus algorithm are introduced for systems modelled by second-order dynamics. Variants of those consensus algorithms are applied to tackle formation control problems by appropriately choosing information states on which consensus is reached. Even in the absence of centralised leadership, the consensus-based formation control strategies can guarantee accurate formation maintenance in the general case of arbitrary (directed) information flow between vehicles as long as certain mild conditions are satisfied. It is shown that many existing leader–follower, behavioural and virtual structure/virtual leader formation control approaches can be unified in the general framework of consensus building. A multiple micro air vehicle formation flying example is shown in simulation to illustrate the strategies.