Formation Control of Multiple Elliptical Agents via Distributed Reduced‐Order Observer With Limited Communication Ranges

ABSTRACT This paper is devoted to studying the formation and tracking problem of an unknown target utilizing only partial output information from the target. Each agent is modeled as an ellipse, serving to simulate the agent's shape and create safety zones to prevent collisions during the movement. Specifically, by utilizing the partial output information of the target, a distributed reduced‐order observer is created to estimate the target's state. Furthermore, a formation control algorithm is proposed based on the separation conditions of ellipses and the estimated state to track the target system. Leveraging LaSalle's invariance principle, it is demonstrated that the unknown mobile target can be tracked in formation without collisions. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is ultimately validated through simulation examples.