Journal of Systems Engineering and Electronics ›› 2026, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (5): 1792-1804.doi: 10.23919/JSEE.2026.000172

• CONTROL THEORY AND APPLICATION • Previous Articles    

Practical finite time formation tracking control of state-constrained multiagent quadrotor

Mazhar Naveed1,*(), Mumtaz Malik Fahad1(), Khan Rameez1(), Raza Abid2(), Amer Azim Raja3(), Mazhar Saeed1()   

  1. 1Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan
    2Institute of Science and Technology Austria, Klosterneuburg 3400, Austria
    3Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan
  • Received:2024-05-21 Online:2026-10-18 Published:2026-11-09
  • Contact: Mazhar Naveed E-mail:naveed.mazhar@ceme.nust.edu.pk;malikfahadmumtaz@ceme.nust.edu.pk;rameez.khan@ceme.nust.edu.pk;abidraza8@gmail.com;raja.amer@ceme.nust.edu.pk;smazhar.ee21ceme@student.nust.edu.pk

Abstract:

This paper presents a time-varying formation tracking strategy for multiagent quadrotor operating in hostile or challenging circumstances, where the position constraints become crucial. A decentralized cooperative control scheme is proposed based on barrier Lyapunov functions in conjunction with linear sliding mode control with directed communication among the quadrotors. The consequence of using the proposed control scheme is to provide practical finite time convergence and disturbance rejection while fulfilling position constraints. The practical finite time convergence of the proposed method is shown for multi-input and multi-output (MIMO) multiagent systems via Lyapunov analysis. The capability of the proposed algorithm is investigated for six quadrotors using MATLAB/Simulink. The simulation results demonstrate the intended performance of the proposed formation tracking controller under modeling uncertainties and external disturbances.

Key words: barrier Lyapunov function, decentralized formation tracking, finite time convergence, multiagent systems, time-varying formation, quadrotor formation