Robust formation control of thrust-propelled vehicles under deterministic and stochastic topology

Abstract

ABSTRACT Formation control of multiple thrust-propelled vehicles (TPVs) under deterministic and stochastic switching topologies and communication delay is addressed. Introducing a new version of variable structure control and based upon sliding mode technique, adaptive control and projection operator, we effectively handle the impact of uncertainties on the mass and inertia matrix and a set of time-varying disturbances affecting the translational and rotational dynamics. Global stability of the whole closed-loop system is guaranteed through Lyapunov stability theory. For the deterministic topology, sufficient condition in terms of LMIs is derived to achieve formation in the presence of jointly connected switching topology. In the case of stochastic topology, based on the concept of super-martingales, it is shown that if the probability of existing a connected topology is not zero, under some conditions, formation is almost surely solved in the network. Finally, numerical simulations verify the effectiveness of the proposed control framework.