Three-Dimensional Maneuver Control of Multiagent Systems With Constrained Input

In this article, we propose a new 3-D maneuver controller for a class of nonlinear multiagent systems (MASs) with nonholonomic constraint and saturated control. The system is designed under a distributed communication topology and the controller is more flexible and efficient for general formation maneuver tasks. The saturation design generates control inputs within pregiven bounds, which makes the system more applicable in practice. Moreover, based on the nonholonomic model, the proposed control also considers the heading angles of the agents. Thus, the maneuver controller can achieve a more natural tracking movement where the heading of the formation will align to the direction of the reference trajectory during the tracking motion. Several simulation examples are given to validate our results and demonstrate the competence for various maneuver tasks of MASs.