Decentralized sliding-mode control laws for the bearing-based formation tracking problem

Abstract: This paper studies the time-varying bearing-based tracking of leader-follower formations. The desired constraints between agents are specified by bearing vectors, and several leaders are moving with a bounded reference velocity. Each followers can measure the relative positions of its neighbors, its own velocities, and receive information from their neighbors. Under the assumptions that the desired formation is infinitesimally bearing rigid and the local reference frames of followers are aligned with each other, two control laws are presented in this paper based on sliding mode control approach. Stability analyses are given based on Lyapunov stability theory and supported by numerical simulations.