Top-down synthesis of multi-agent formation control: An eigenstructure assignment based approach

Abstract

We propose a top-down approach for formation control of heterogeneous multi-agent systems, based on the method of eigenstructure assignment. Given the problem of achieving scalable formations on the plane, our approach globally computes a state feedback control that assigns desired closed-loop eigenvalues/eigenvectors. We design special (sparse) topologies such that the synthesized control may be implemented locally by the individual agents. Moreover, we apply the proposed approach to achieve rigid formation, and present a hierarchical synthesis procedure that significantly improves computational efficiency. Finally, we illustrate these results by simulation examples.