Communications in Information and Systems

Volume 8 (2008)

Number 4

Stabilization of Three-Dimensional Collective Motion

Pages: 473 – 500

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4310/CIS.2008.v8.n4.a6

Authors

Naomi Leonard

Luca Scardovi

Rodolphe Sepulchre

Abstract

This paper proposes a methodology to stabilize relative equilibria in a model of identical, steered particles moving in three-dimensional Euclidean space. Exploiting the Lie group structure of the resulting dynamical system, the stabilization problem is reduced to a consensus problem on the Lie algebra. The resulting equilibria correspond to parallel, circular and helical formations. We first derive the stabilizing control laws in the presence of all-to-all communication. Providing each agent with a consensus estimator, we then extend the results to a general setting that allows for unidirectional and time-varying communication topologies.

Keywords

Motion coordination, nonlinear systems, multi-agent systems, consensus, multi-vehicle formations

Published 1 January 2008