Collision-Free Circular Formation Control for Nonholonomic Vehicles Under Obstacle Occlusion With Relative Measurement

This paper addresses the problem of circular formation control for nonholonomic vehicles in communication-free and GPS-free mode under obstacle occlusion with relative measurement. Firstly, an attractive vector is constructed based on relative position between vehicles and target. The constructed vector, combined with the angular deviation of the trajectory’s circular center associated with nonholonomic vehicles, is used to design circular formation controllers. The collisions during the formation process are effectively prevented by the control laws. Subsequently, a more applicable circular formation control law ensuring collision avoidance is proposed for a scenario with onboard sensor occlusion. The proposed control laws eliminate the need for the uniform angular spacing between vehicles and are completely independent of the number nonholonomic vehicles. Finally, the validation of the designed controllers are carried out through both numerical simulations and physical experiments.