Distributed cooperative shape control in multiagent formations using bearing measurements

Abstract

Constrained distance measurements are not the only geometrically pertinent quantities that can be used for formation shape control. Other measurement constraints include bearings, which are examined in this paper. Directed parallel rigidity based on bearings was used for localization in agent networks. This paper employs this concept for shape control in multiagent formations with leader-follower architecture. We show that bearings can be used for shape control, not only for balanced circular formations that was studied earlier in the literature, but for a large class of networks satisfying the conditions of directed bearing based rigidity. Here, agents are two wheeled kinematic unicycles. Then the paper focuses on the planner level and controller level of the architecture by designing fuzzy planners using bearing constraints and fuzzy controllers to be operated at each agent that will maintain the shape of a formation. The validity of the proposed approach is tested through simulation experiments. © 2011 IFAC.