Time-varying formation tracking control for multi-agent systems using distributed multi-sensor multi-target filtering

Time-varying formation tracking control issues for multi-agent systems are investigated based on the distributed multi-sensor multi-target filtering algorithm. In order to estimate the states of targets, a distributed multi-sensor multi-target filtering algorithm based on cubature Kalman filtering is investigated. Subsequently, the state estimations calculated by the filtering algorithm are used to design a time-varying formation tracking protocol for multi-agent systems, enabling the agents to form a time-varying formation and track the convex combination of uncooperative targets. The estimation errors of the filtering algorithm are proved to be bounded in mean square by introducing a stochastic process and the boundedness of the formation tracking errors is further proved. Simulation results illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm and protocol.