Distributed flocking control of convex polygonal multiagent systems with obstacle avoidance

This paper studies the distributed flocking control problem for second-order convex polygonal multiagent systems with obstacles and limited communication regions. Existing research often simplifies agent shapes to particles or circles, neglecting the real shapes like unmanned ships and vehicles, which can result in inefficient use of spatial resources. To solve this problem, a new method for calculating the relative distance between convex polygonal agents is introduced. A potential function incorporating attractive and repulsive forces is designed based on this relative distance. The attractive function promotes cohesion, while the repulsive function prevents collisions. A finite cut-off function is used to design the repulsive function to avoid infinite repulsion when agents are too close. A flocking reference trajectory is set for movement, and an obstacle-avoidance reference trajectory is assigned for avoiding obstacles when the distance between the agent and the obstacle is less than the safe distance. The proposed control law integrates potential function and reference trajectory to achieve both flocking and obstacle avoidance. The effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm is validated through simulation on agents of different shapes in both obstacle-free and obstacle environments.