Stress Matrix-Based Formation Control of Multi-Agent Systems with Discrete-Time Communication

This study addresses the affine formation maneuver control of cooperative multi-agent systems (MAS) having periodic inter-agent communication for both static and dynamic leader cases. Here, we focus on the leader-follower MASs. The primary aim of the control system is to steer the entire collection of agents to produce required patterns (geometric) along with any required maneuver through the direct control of only few a selected agents referred to as leaders. Most of the existing works are constrained to either the individual agents communicate with each other in continuous-time or the sample-data scenario where the leaders are stationary or have constant acceleration or velocities. Here, we consider the scenarios where the velocities of the leaders can be time-varying or constant. Here, different cases are addressed and some control laws are proposed. Conditions are established to help guarantee the overall stability of the systems. A simulation study is employed for the illustration of our proposed laws.