Formation tracking control for time-delayed multi-agent systems with second-order dynamics

In this paper, formation tracking control problems for second-order multi-agent systems (MASs) with time-varying delays are studied, specifically those where the position and velocity of followers are designed to form a time-varying formation while tracking those of the leader. A neighboring relative state information based formation tracking protocol with an unknown gain matrix and time-varying delays is presented. The formation tracking problems are then transformed into asymptotically stable problems. Based on the Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional approach, conditions sufficient for second-order MASs with time-varying delays to realize formation tracking are examined. An approach to obtain the unknown gain matrix is given and, since neighboring relative velocity information is difficult to measure in practical applications, a formation tracking protocol with time-varying delays using only neighboring relative position information is introduced. The proposed results can be used on target enclosing problems for MASs with second-order dynamics and time-varying delays. An application for target enclosing by multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is given to demonstrate the feasibility of theoretical results.