Enhanced Affine Formation Maneuver Control Using Historical Velocity Command (HVC)

Abstract

Recent studies on the network of multi-vehicle systems have shown that the system performance can be improved comprehensively by actively using historical information without changing the network connectivity. Motivated by this observation, we aim to improve the performance of affine formation maneuver control using historical velocity command (HVC) and fill the gap between theoretical studies and practical implementations. The main contributions include the three aspects: 1) We explore the potential value of HVC in affine formation control and discover that HVC effectively enhances the system performance; 2) We thoroughly assess the impact of HVC on the system, and prove an easy-to-test stability condition. Additionally, we provide an explicit inequality on the relationship between the delay parameter and ultimate bounds of tracking errors to guide performance tuning; 3) A systematic control solution is provided for the coordinated formation maneuver of a swarm of two-wheel differential robots (TWDRs), and simulation and experimental case studies are performed on 9 TWDRs to verify the results of a stability condition and comprehensive performance improvement.