The target capturing problem for multi-agent double-integrator systems: a distributed model predictive control scheme

In this paper, a target capturing problem for multi-agent systems described by double-integrator dynamics and time-varying communication network has been considered.The main aim consists in ensuring that the agents are indefinitely confined into a so-called containment region by jointly lying outside the distancing set and keeping this property for all future time instants. Here, this problem has been addressed by means of a distributed control architecture based on two ingredients: a new description of the kinematic evolution of the multi-agent system and an adequate customization of model predictive control ideas in a distributed fashion. As one of its main merits, the resulting scheme ensures synchronization capabilities in finite time for all the involved agents.