Formation control of underactuated autonomous vehicles using constraint forces

In this paper a novel formation control frame-work is presented for unmanned autonomous ground vehicles based on analytical mechanics and multibody interpretation. The coordinated motion is achieved by introducing holonomic constraint functions that describe the interaction between the vehicles. These functions are interpreted as constraint forces and the decentralized control law is determined for the input affine linear parameter varying model of the vehicle by Lagrange multiplier method. The control design takes into account both underactuation and inertial properties of the vehicle, moreover, it is highly configurable through the constraint functions and can be applied for various scenarios. Simulation results show the efficiency of the control system through realistic high velocity maneuvers.