Formation control and string stability of a group of kinematic vehicles with front-steering wheels

The paper considers control problems of a group of front-steering wheels kinematic nonholonomic vehicles with three wheels. The problems of driving the vehicles towards desired rigid and stringlike formations are considered. Special attention is given to the string stability problem and a control algorithm has been established for regulating propagation of disturbances through the vehicle string. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed controllers for rigid formation and convoy of vehicles are demonstrated.