Time-Varying Formation Control for Time-Delayed Multi-Agent Systems with General Linear Dynamics and Switching Topologies

Time-varying formation analysis and design problems for general linear multi-agent systems with switching interaction topologies and time-varying delays are studied. Firstly, a consensus-based formation control protocol is constructed using local information of the neighboring agents. An algorithm with three steps is presented to design the proposed formation control protocol. Then, based on linear matrix inequality technique and common Lyapunove–Krasovskii stability theory, sufficient conditions for general linear multi-agent systems with switching topologies and time-varying delays to achieve time-varying formation are given together with a time-varying formation feasibility condition. Finally, a numerical simulation is given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the obtained theoretical results.