Coordination of networked multi-vehicle systems

In this paper we present a predictive control strategy for the supervision of networked multi-vehicle systems subject to coordination constraints. Such a constrained dynamic network paradigm is characterized by a set of spatially distributed dynamic systems, connected via communication channels and with possibly dynamic coupling amongst them, which need to be controlled and coordinated in order to accomplish their overall objective. The significance of the method is that it is capable of ensuring no constraints violation and loss of stability regardless of any, possibly unbounded, time-delay occurrence. The method can be specialized to deal more efficiently either with random round-trip time-delays, such as the case over the Internet, or constant/bounded time-delays, typically encountered in space and underwater applications. An application to the coordination of two autonomous vehicles under input-saturation and formation accuracy constraints is presented.