Multiple dynamic targets enclosing control for a class of nonlinear uncertain multiagent systems

Abstract

The multiple dynamic targets enclosing control protocol is proposed in this paper for a class of nonlinear uncertain multiagent systems. To accomplish the mission of hunting multiple targets with double-integral nonlinear dynamics, a distributed estimator is established firstly for each agent by employing the signum function, leading to an estimation of the average position of multiple targets. Specifically, only partial information about the dynamic targets is utilized to construct the enclosing formation reference beacon. Furthermore, due to the existence of the system uncertainties, it is a challenging task to design the enclosing controller. To overcome this difficulty, an augmented system is constructed to compensate for the effect caused by the uncertainties, which is introduced afterwards into the control protocol design along with comprehensive theoretical analysis. Sufficient conditions are derived and proved under Lyapunov stability criterion to ensure the closed-loop stability of nonlinear multiagent systems. The effectiveness of the proposed control scheme is finally verified through the numerical simulations. More precisely, by appropriately picking control parameters α and β based on Lemma 3.1, the designed formation reference beacon estimator is validated by achieving convergence of errors between the actual state and estimated states to zero. Meanwhile, the feasibility of the proposed enclosing control protocol is demonstrated simultaneously as it enables the regulation of enclosing errors using a self-designed parameter γ0. Additionally, the sensitivity analysis of the control parameters is presented, which indicates that the proposed reference beacon estimator remains robust to the variation of its control parameters, while larger values for the control parameters in the designed controller result in faster error convergence rates.