Multi-vehicle formation control and obstacle avoidance using negative-imaginary systems theory

• Published in: IFAC Journal of Systems and Control 2021-03, Vol.15, p.100117, Article 100117
• Main Authors: Tran, Vu Phi, Garratt, Matthew A., Petersen, Ian R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Consensus control; Distributed leader–follower formation control; Distributed obstacle avoidance approach; Homogeneous UGVs cooperation; Multi-agent control algorithm; Negative-imaginary systems theory; UAV–UGV cooperation
• ISSN: 2468-6018; 2468-6018
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ifacsc.2020.100117

This paper presents a compelling combination of the two negative-imaginary (NI) control systems: a consensus-based formation control framework for a hybrid multi-vehicle system and a new dynamic obstacle detection and avoidance algorithm. The incorporation of the two techniques permits robots to self-detect collisions and then self-create a safe path to overcome any unexpected obstacles while traveling to the destination in a given formation. Moreover, owing to the distributed and dynamic architecture, our NI obstacle avoidance method has better adaptability to the change of environment conditions or obstacle/robot dynamics. Also, a rigorous comparative study on the performance of our obstacle avoidance method with respect to that of the artificial potential field function and switching formation-based NI obstacle avoidance algorithms is performed as a benchmark. Finally, simulation and experimental results are then implemented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed theories.