Distance-based formation control with a single moving leader

This paper proposes distance-based adaptive formation control laws for the leader-follower system. The developed controller makes all the agents maintain the formation group and move with a constant reference velocity in a plane. It is assumed that there are one leading and two following agents. The leading agent knows the reference velocity whereas the follower does not know the velocity of other agents. Thus, to move in a group, the controller for the follower estimates the reference velocity. An adaptive method is used in the estimation process. The stability and boundedness of the formation are proved by using Lyapunov stability analysis and Barbalat´s lemma. Simulations results are included to illustrate the validity of the developed theories.