Surrounding control in cooperative agent networks

In this paper, two surrounding control problems are proposed, where a team of followers is used to surround a team of leaders. The problems are solved under a decentralized estimation-and-control framework. Using tools from algebraic graph theory and dynamical systems theory, it is shown that the two teams, involving a team of leaders and a team of followers, preserve some desired convergence properties, even if the geometric center of the leaders can only be obtained from estimators. A simulation example is presented to verify the validity of the derived results.

Research highlights► The combination of algebraic graph 15 theory and dynamical systems theory has revived a broad interest in the analysis of multiagent systems. ► The surrounding control problem aims at controlling a team of followers to surround a team of leaders. ► A distributed estimation and control framework is used to solve the problem in a distributed manner.