Coordinated Control of Multiple Mobile Agents with Connectivity Preserving

Abstract The underlying topology of the network remaining connected frequently enough during the evolution is a basic assumption seen in many previous works on coordinated control in a network of multi-agent systems to guarantee the stability of the coordinated motion. However, for a given set of initial conditions, this assumption is very difficult to verify. In particular, connectivity of the initial network can not guarantee connectivity of the network during the evolution. In this paper, we propose a coordinated control protocol, which combines the roles of motion control and connectivity control. This protocol can enable the group to achieve velocity alignment and a desired group shape while preserving connectivity of the network during the evolution only if the initial network is connected. Moreover, we investigate the coordinated control with a virtual leader.

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