Distributed Bearing-based Formation Control With Edge-triggered Observers

With the growing prevalence of technologies such as drones, mobile robots, and autonomous vehicle fleets, multi-agent collaborative control has emerged as a significant area of research. This article focuses on distributed observer-based formation control for multi-agent systems with a leader-follower structure, utilizing edge-event triggered mechanisms. Unlike traditional formation controls that depend on complete access to the leader’s velocity, this method requires only a select few followers to have access to the time-varying velocity information of the leader. A distributed velocity observer was developed through an edge-event triggered mechanism to reduce unnecessary data transmissions and conserve energy. Additionally, a bearing-based formation controller built on input-to-state stability theory was introduced to effectively manage formation tracking and execute scaling maneuvers. Numerical simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods and highlight their advantages over traditional node-based event-triggered strategies.