The distance-based formation controller design for multi-agent systems in port-Hamiltonian form
Abstract
Based on the practical scenario where collisions in formation control may lead to agent damage, this paper investigates the integrated problem of distance-based formation control and collision avoidance for multi-agent systems governed by port-Hamiltonian dynamics. A foundational step involves constructing a signed incidence matrix, which, by design, corresponds to a directed acyclic graph and possesses the full column rank property. To overcome the prevalent issue of local minima in traditional artificial potential fields, a novel design utilizing attraction-only potentials is introduced, with collision avoidance rigorously enforced by safety barriers. This framework leads to a unified controller that concurrently manages velocity tracking, target formation acquisition, and inter-agent safety. The stability of the resulting closed-loop system is guaranteed through LaSalle's invariance principle. Numerical simulations demonstrate the validity and effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.
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BibTeX
@misc{zhao2026distancebased,
title = {{The distance-based formation controller design for multi-agent systems in port-Hamiltonian form}},
author = {Jingyi Zhao and Yongxin Wu and Héctor García de Marina and Yuhu Wu and Yann Le Gorrec},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2605.18502},
eprint = {2605.18502},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.18502},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - The distance-based formation controller design for multi-agent systems in port-Hamiltonian form
AU - Jingyi Zhao
AU - Yongxin Wu
AU - Héctor García de Marina
AU - Yuhu Wu
AU - Yann Le Gorrec
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/17
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2605.18502
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.18502
AB - Based on the practical scenario where collisions in formation control may lead to agent damage, this paper investigates the integrated problem of distance-based formation control and collision avoidance for multi-agent systems governed by port-Hamiltonian dynamics. A foundational step involves constructing a signed incidence matrix, which, by design, corresponds to a directed acyclic graph and possesses the full column rank property. To overcome the prevalent issue of local minima in traditional artificial potential fields, a novel design utilizing attraction-only potentials is introduced, with collision avoidance rigorously enforced by safety barriers. This framework leads to a unified controller that concurrently manages velocity tracking, target formation acquisition, and inter-agent safety. The stability of the resulting closed-loop system is guaranteed through LaSalle's invariance principle. Numerical simulations demonstrate the validity and effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.
ER -