Formation control of a multi-agent system using decentralized nonlinear servomechanism

In this article we consider the formation control problem of a system of M agents with general nonlinear dynamics. We show that the problem of the agents moving in a formation along constant or periodic trajectories can be formulated as a nonlinear output regulation (servomechanism) problem and solved using known techniques. Then, we consider the example of formation control of agents with point mass dynamics and apply the procedure. Few illustrative numerical simulation examples are also provided.