Leader-follower formation control for a team of mobile robots using an acoustic array

We simulate an omnidirectional acoustic array for formation control of a team of nonholonomic robots. We wish to maintain a desired formation without the robots communicating with each other. The appropriate sensor model for an acoustic array is defined and integrated with a controller that exponentially reduces tracking error to steady state. Experimental results show that the controller maintains stability, even in regions where the formation kinematics become singular. To maintain stability, these results also show that the acoustic array must remain within a limited range from all targets it is observing.