Observer-based leader-centric time-varying formation tracking control for nonlinear multi-agent systems with collision avoidance

The article introduces a novel control design methodology to achieve leader-centric time-varying formation tracking (leader-centric TVFT) with collision avoidance for Lipschitz nonlinear multi-agent systems (MASs) equipped with a leader-driven formation system. This methodology addresses key challenges, including actuator bias faults and leader maneuvering. It employs two novel control schemes: a collision avoidance scheme and a formation observer-based TVFT (FO-based TVFT) control scheme. The collision avoidance scheme ensures safe operation by preventing inter-agent collisions, while the FO-based TVFT control scheme enables followers to achieve TVFT for leader-driven formations while tracking the leader. To implement this FO-based TVFT control scheme, each follower employs a formation observer (FO) to continuously estimate the leader’s dynamically driven formations in real-time, facilitating responsive formation tracking. Notably, this FO-based TVFT control scheme establishes a novel framework for leader-centric TVFT (i.e., TVFT for leader-driven formations resulting from leader-driven formation switching) in MASs. Furthermore, this control methodology is specifically designed for Lipschitz nonlinear MASs operating under potential actuator bias faults and unpredictable leader maneuvering. It guarantees that the collective formation tracking error of followers is uniformly ultimately bounded (UUB), based on Lyapunov’s stability theory. Finally, an illustrative example validates the effectiveness of the proposed approach.