Generalization of Distributed Linear Consensus Strategy for the Formation of Trochoidal Patterns in Multi-agent Systems

This dissertation deals with the problem of geometric pattern formation by a group of autonomous agents. The patterns are formed by the trajectories of the agents, which are modelled either as single integrator kinematics or double integrator dynamics. The proposed control laws are distributed, which is an extension of the consensus protocol. The patterns can be used in multi-robot applications like search, coverage, surveillance, and so on. We derive the conditions for pattern formation for a more general graph topology. Computer simulations and multi-robot experiments are presented to validate the theoretical findings.