Multi-vehicle formation control and obstacle avoidance using negative-imaginary systems theory. (March 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Tran, Vu Phi; Garratt, Matthew A.; Petersen, Ian R.
• Is Part Of: IFAC journal of systems and control. Volume 15(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-03
• Subjects: Distributed obstacle avoidance approach -- Distributed leader–follower formation control -- Consensus control -- Negative-imaginary systems theory -- UAV–UGV cooperation -- Homogeneous UGVs cooperation -- Multi-agent control algorithm; Automatic control -- Periodicals; Relay control systems -- Periodicals; Embedded computer systems -- Periodicals; Feedback control systems -- Periodicals; Artificial intelligence -- Periodicals; Artificial intelligence; Automatic control; Embedded computer systems; Feedback control systems; Relay control systems; Electronic journals; Periodicals; 629.89
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ifacsc.2020.100117
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2468-6018

Abstract

Abstract: 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.