Consensus-Based Formation Control for Heterogeneous Multi-Agent Systems in Complex Environments

The purpose of this paper is to develop formation control strategies for heterogeneous multi-intelligent-agent systems in complex environments, with the goal of enhancing their performance, reliability, and stability. Complex flight conditions, such as navigating narrow gaps in urban high-rise buildings, pose considerable challenges for agent control. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a consensus-based formation strategy that integrates graph theory and multi-consensus algorithms. This approach incorporates time-varying group consistency to strengthen fault tolerance and reduce interference while ensuring obstacle avoidance and formation maintenance in dynamic environments. Through a Lyapunov stability analysis, combined with minimum dwell time constraints and the LaSalle invariance principle, this work proves the convergence of the proposed control scheme under changing network topologies. Simulation results confirm that the proposed strategy significantly improves system performance, mission execution capability, autonomy, synergy, and robustness, thereby enabling agents to successfully maintain formation and avoid obstacles in both homogeneous and heterogeneous clusters in complex environments.