In this paper, we solve the distributed leader–follower simultaneous formation stabilization and tracking control problem for heterogeneous planar underactuated vehicle networks without global position measurements of the followers. The vehicles in the network are modeled as generic 3-DOF planar rigid bodies with two control inputs, and are allowed to have identical or non-identical dynamics. By incorporating graph theory, passivity-based control, partial stability theory, Matrosov’s theorem and the persistence of excitation concept, a smooth formation control scheme is proposed to simultaneously address the formation stabilization and formation tracking problems without switching. Moreover, the structure of the controller is relatively simple compared to the existing controllers in the literature, and thus, is practical and easy to implement. Simulations on a group of underactuated vehicles including nonholonomic mobile robots and surface vessels are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.

在本文中，我们解决了异构平面欠驱动车辆网络的分布式领导者-跟随者同时编队稳定和跟踪控制问题，而没有跟随者的全局位置测量。网络中的车辆被建模为具有两个控制输入的通用 3-DOF 平面刚体，并且允许具有相同或不同的动力学。通过结合图论、无源控制、局部稳定理论、马特罗索夫定理和激励持续概念，提出了一种平滑编队控制方案，可以在不切换的情况下同时解决编队稳定和编队跟踪问题。而且，与文献中现有的控制器相比，控制器的结构相对简单，实用且易于实现。