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This article discusses cooperative stabilization control of rigid formations via an event-based approach. We first design a centralized event-based formation control system, in which a central event controller determines the next triggering time and broadcasts the event signal to all the agents for control input update. We then build on this approach to propose a distributed event control strategy, in which each agent can use its local event trigger and local information to update the control input at its own event time. For both cases, the triggering condition, event function, and triggering behavior are discussed in detail, and the exponential convergence of the event-based formation system is guaranteed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we develop some new event-triggered algorithms for achieving distributed consensus for a multiagent system that guarantees fully Zeno-free triggerings for all the agents. In the proposed framework, each agent updates its control input only at its own triggering instants by using local measurements (i.e., relative states) with respect to neighboring agents, and such local measurements can be done in a local coordinate frame. For all agents, a positive $\mathcal {L}^{\boldsymbol {p}}$ signal function is embedded in the event detector functions, which aims to avoid the possible comparison of an event error term to a zero threshold that may happen in a zero-crossing scenario. We further propose a Zeno-free self-triggered algorithm to achieve multiagent consensus, which enables discrete-time measurements and thus avoids continuous measurements between the neighboring agents. We also show that the proposed event-based consensus algorithms guarantee less frequent triggered events in a bounded time interval compared to the conventional algorithm without $\mathcal {L}^{\boldsymbol {p}}$ signals. Simulations and comparisons are provided to validate the performance and effectiveness of the proposed event-based consensus schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Most current results on coverage control using mobile sensors require that one partitioned cell is associated with precisely one sensor. In this paper, we consider a class of coverage control problems involving higher order Voronoi partitions, motivated by applications where more than one sensor is required to monitor and cover one cell. Such applications are frequent in scenarios requiring the sensors to localize targets. We introduce a framework depending on a coverage performance function incorporating higher order Voronoi cells and then design a gradient-based controller which allows the multi-sensor system to achieve a local equilibrium in a distributed manner. The convergence properties are studied and related to Lloyd algorithm. We study also the extension to coverage of a discrete set of points and its applications to clustering of discrete sets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper investigates the formation scaling control problem for multi-agent systems by utilizing the stress matrix associated with a universally rigid framework. Compared with the existing results on formation scaling control, we consider a more challenging scenario where only one agent has the knowledge of the desired formation size. To cope with this constraint, we first propose a distributed estimator for the remaining agents to estimate the scaling parameter. Then by employing the outputs of the estimator, we design a new class of formation scaling control algorithms for universally rigid frameworks such that the overall formation converges to the prescribed shape with the desired scaling. Numerical simulations are carried out to validate the theoretical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an elevation angle rigidity theory in both 2D and 3D spaces, and applies it to solve multi-agent formation control with only inter-agent bearing/direction measurements in agents' local coordinate frames. Motivated by the sensor technology in measuring elevation angle and angular diameter, we develop elevation angle rigidity by attaching each agent in a multi-agent framework with a rod in 2D and a ball in 3D, respectively. By defining the elevation angle rigidity matrix, conditions for infinitesimal elevation angle rigidity are derived. Compared to previously developed angle rigidity-based and bearing rigidity-based formation control laws, the proposed elevation angle rigidity-based control law can maintain the gradient-based control property. Compared to distance-based formation control laws, less sensor measurements are required. The formation maneuvering with desired translation and rotation is also realized by using only local bearing measurements. Simulation examples illustrate the advantages and effectiveness of the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a sign rigidity theory to characterize and examine multi-agent rigid formations consistent with a formation specification including distance- and signed area-constraints, and to control an arbitrarily positioned set of agents to take up the specifications. The sign rigidity theory can be viewed as an extended version of the standard distance rigidity theory with the addition of signed area constraints. This property enables elimination of possible formation specification ambiguities arising when a formation specification includes distance constraints only. As an application of the sign rigidity theory, this paper explores formation specification control in 2-D space. Under the proposed gradient-based formation control law, almost global convergence (from arbitrary initial positions) can be achieved when a target formation consists of triangulated sub-formations defined by distance- and signed area-constraints; the formation control law is applied for either single-integrator models or unicycle models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]