@article{6cf23f1a31b040249bf7e1f9de049c7b,
title = "A connection between formation infeasibility and velocity alignment in kinematic multi-agent systems",
abstract = "In this paper, a feedback control strategy that achieves convergence of a multi-agent system to a desired formation configuration is proposed for both the cases of agents with single integrator and nonholonomic unicycle-type kinematics. When inter-agent objectives that specify the desired formation cannot occur simultaneously in the state space the desired formation is infeasible. It is shown that under certain assumptions, formation infeasibility forces the agents' velocity vectors to a common value at steady state. This provides a connection between formation infeasibility and flocking behavior for the multi-agent system. We finally also obtain an analytic expression of the common velocity vector in the case of formation infeasibility.",
keywords = "Autonomous systems, Decentralized control, Formation control, Multi-agent systems",
author = "Dimarogonas, {Dimos V.} and Kyriakopoulos, {Kostas J.}",
note = "Funding Information: Kostas J. Kyriakopoulos was born in Athens, Greece in 1962. He received the Diploma in mechanical engineering with Honors from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Greece, in 1985 and the M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical, Computer & Systems Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Troy, NY in 1987 and 1991, respectively. From 1988 to 1991 he did research at the NASA Center for Intelligent Robotic Systems for Space Exploration. Between 1991 and 1993 he was a Research Assistant Professor at the Electrical, Computer and Systems Engineering Department of RPI and the New York State Center for Advanced Technology in Automation and Robotics. Since 1994 he has been with the Control Systems Laboratory of the Mechanical Engineering Department at NTUA, Greece, where he currently serves as a Professor and Director of the Computation Lab. His current interests are in the area of Nonlinear Control Systems applications in (1) Sensor Based Motion Planning & Control of Multi-Robotic Systems: Manipulators & Vehicles (Mobile, Underwater and Aerial) and (2) Micro-Mechatronics. He was awarded the G. Samaras award of academic excellence from NTUA, the Bodosakis Foundation Fellowship (1986–1989), the Alexander Onassis Foundation Fellowship (1989–1990) and the Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation Fellowship (1993). Dr. Kyriakopoulos has published 150 papers in journals and refereed conferences; he serves in the editorial committee and as a regular reviewer of a number of journals and conferences, and has also served as an administrative member of a number of international conferences. He has contributed to a large number of projects funded by the European Commission and the Greek secretariat for Research & Technology. He is a member of IEEE, EURON and the Technical Chamber of Greece. Funding Information: This work was partially presented in [Dimarogonas, D.V., & Kyriakopoulos, K.J. (2005). Formation control and collision avoidance for multi-agent systems and a connection between formation infeasibility and flocking behavior. In 44th IEEE conf. decision and control (pp. 84–89); Dimarogonas, D. V., & Kyriakopoulos, K. J. (2006). A connection between formation control and flocking behavior in nonholonomic multi-agent systems. In IEEE intern. conf. robotics and automation (pp. 940–945)]. The authors were supported by the EU through contract I-SWARM (IST-2004-507006). The first author was also partially supported by the KTH ACCESS Linnaeus Center and the VINNOVA/FMV TAIS-AURES program (297316-LB704859). This paper was recommended for publication in revised form by Associate Editor Keum-Shik Hong under the direction of Editor Mituhiko Araki. ",
year = "2008",
month = oct,
doi = "10.1016/j.automatica.2008.03.013",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "44",
pages = "2648--2654",
journal = "Automatica",
issn = "0005-1098",
publisher = "Elsevier Limited",
number = "10",
}