Simultaneous Distributed Localization, Formation, and Group Motion Control: A Distributed Filter Approach

In this article, we investigate the problem of localizing and maintaining a formation of mobile robots in an unknown environment. Particularly, the mobile robots are neither able to maintain a formation by utilizing the available local measurements nor maneuver in an unknown environment due to the lack of global position information. By employing a distributed filter and combining it with a distributed control law, the robots can reach and maintain the formation shape and additionally attain group motion tasks in an unknown environment, even when the measurement graph of the multiagent systems is weakly connected. Additionally, by utilizing information coming from the distributed filter, each agent can additionally obtain the information on the positions of undetectable landmarks/obstacles and can maintain a stable formation while dealing with obstacle avoidance. We analyze the $L^{2}$ stability of the closed-loop system. Finally, the efficacy and performance of the proposed integrated distributed filter and formation control law are evaluated by numerical simulations.