Energy-constraint output formation for swarm systems with dynamic output feedback control protocols

Area of Science:

• Control Systems Engineering
• Robotics
• Distributed Systems

Background:

• Existing dynamic output feedback protocols for swarm systems often neglect energy constraints, which are critical for practical applications.
• Energy efficiency is a key challenge in deploying large-scale autonomous swarm systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel energy-constrained output formation control protocol for swarm systems.
• To address both leaderless and leader-following topology structures under energy limitations.
• To unify the theoretical frameworks for output formation and output formation tracking with energy constraints.

Main Methods:

• A dynamic output formation protocol incorporating an energy-constraint term is proposed.
• The observable decomposition approach is utilized for protocol design.
• Sufficient conditions for leaderless energy-constrained output formation are derived by relating energy constraints to matrix variables.
• A partition checking algorithm is developed to verify these conditions, ensuring scalability and solvability.
• A nonsingular transformation approach is employed to unify different formation control scenarios.

Main Results:

• The proposed protocol effectively restricts overall energy consumption in swarm systems.
• Designed gain matrices ensure actual energy consumption is below the total energy supply.
• The partition checking algorithm confirms the scalability and solvability of the swarm system.
• The output formation center function accurately depicts macroscopic swarm movement.
• Theoretical results are validated through two simulation examples.

Conclusions:

• The developed energy-constrained output formation control protocol is effective for swarm systems.
• The protocol ensures energy efficiency while achieving desired formation control.
• The unified framework simplifies the analysis and design of complex swarm behaviors.