Distributed Observer-Based Time-Varying Formation Control Under Switching Topologies

This paper proposes the distributed observer-based control approach to achieve time-varying formation of second-order autonomous unmanned systems (AUSs) under switching topologies. It is assumed that each AUS has access only to the positions of its neighbouring AUS agents. An observer is then designed to estimate the velocity of neighbouring AUS agents. Furthermore, a distributed control for the AUSs is designed using information of position and estimated velocity. A common Lyapunov function is employed in order to establish sufficient conditions for the stability of closed-loop systems. In order to address the effect of switching topologies, a dwell-time condition is has been considered. Moreover, the observer-based time-varying formation controller satisfies the separation principle. Finally, simulation results are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.