This paper considers the distributed time-varying formation tracking control problem of multi-quadcopter systems using affine formation control strategies with multiple virtual leaders. A novel two-layer (formation layer and local control layer) affine formation control structure is established to account for the underactuated nature of the quadcopter dynamics. In the formation layer, a quadcopter is abstracted as a virtual double-integrator agent and affine formation controllers are then designed based on the networked double-integrator dynamics. The resultant virtual affine formation control inputs from the formation layer are converted to the desired attitudes based on the quadcopter dynamics, and a sliding mode controller is then proposed to ensure flnite-time tracking convergence to the desired attitude in the local control layer. Numerical simulations were carried out using a group of six quadcopters in the XY-plane to demonstrate and validate the effectiveness of the developed controllers.

This paper studies the distributed event-triggered leader-follower formation tracking control problem of general linear multi-agent systems (MASs) with a dynamic leader in a sampled-data setting. A novel asynchronous edge-based event- generator is established for each communication edge to regulate the inter-agent communication at each sampling instant. Then, we propose an edge-state-estimate-based formation tracking algorithm, under which the formation tracking control problem can be formulated as a stability analysis problem of the closed-loop formation error dynamics. The event-generator and formation tracking controller gains can then be co-designed based on the feasible linear matrix inequality (LMI) conditions that guarantee the ultimate boundedness of the closed-loop formation error dynamics. Numerical simulations were carried out using a group of four mobile robots to validate the proposed method.

This paper addresses the distributed event-triggered leader-follower formation tracking control problem for multi- agent systems (MASs) with general linear agent dynamics in a sampled-data environment. A new distributed state-estimate- based event-triggering communication mechanism is proposed to manage the inter-agent communication at each sampling instant. Then, a formation control protocol is designed based on the combined measurement of all locally-available triggered sampled information for each follower agent. The event-generator and formation controller gains are co-designed from the sufficient linear matrix inequality (LMI) conditions that ensure the uniform ultimate boundedness for the closed-loop formation error dynamics. In addition, the free parameters in the derived conditions are optimized to produce event-generator and controller gains to maximize system performance. Lastly, the developed protocols were validated using simulations of a group of linearized miniature quadcopters.