Distributed Time-Varying Output Formation Control for General Linear Multiagent Systems with Directed Topology

This paper addresses distributed time-varying output formation (TVOF) control problems using an adaptive output-feedback approach for general linear multiagent systems with directed communication topology. Compared with the previous work on formation control, the multiagent system can achieve a predefined TVOF via output feedback without using the global information about the directed communication topology. First, an adaptive output formation controller is constructed via dynamic output-feedback information and sequential observers. Through the output formation decomposition and observability decomposition, the distributed TVOF control problems are transformed into stabilization problems. Then, a distributed algorithm is proposed to determine the parameters in the adaptive output formation controller independent of the global information of the directed communication topology. A feasible TVOF set is given. Moreover, the stability of the proposed algorithm is proved based on the Lyapunov theory. Finally, simulation examples are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the obtained results.