Formation and Containment Control for High-order Linear Swarm Systems

This book focuses on analysis and design problems for high-order linear time-invariant (LTI) swarm systems (multi-agent systems) to achieve consensus, formation, containment and formation-containment. As a first step, the concepts of practical consensus and formation-containment are introduced. Unlike previous research, the formation in this book can be time-varying. A general framework for consensus, consensus tracking, formation, containment and state formation-containment is presented for the first time.

Sufficient/necessary and sufficient conditions, and approaches to designing the protocols for swarm systems to achieve these control objectives, are respectively proposed. Autonomous time-varying formation experiments using five quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are conducted in an outdoor setting to demonstrate the theoretical results.

Research interests:
Multi-agent system
Consensus control
Formation control
Containment control
Formation-containment control
Unmanned aerial vehicle
Embedded system

Previous degrees:

Ph.D. Control Science and Engineering September 2009 - July 2014
Department of Automation, Tsinghua University, Beijing, P. R. China
Supervisor: Prof. Yisheng Zhong
B.E. Automation September 2005 - July 2009
School of Automation, Chongqing University, Chongqing, P. R. China

Prizes and awards:
[1] Outstanding Graduates of Beijing, 2014
[2] Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation of Tsinghua University, 2014
[3] Academic Rookie in Department of Automation, Tsinghua University, 2014
[4] National Scholarship for Doctoral Candidate, 2013
[5] Second Scholarship of Tsinghua Zhiyou-Guanghua, 2012
[6] Second Scholarship for Graduate Summer Intern of Tsinghua University, 2012
[7] Advanced Individual of Graduate Union, Dept. of Automation,Tsinghua University, 2011
[8] Siemens A&D Scholarship, 2008
[9] First Prize in America Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling, 2008

[10] Second Prize in China Undergraduate Mathematical Contest in Modeling, 2007
[11] Excellent Student Scholarship of Chongqing University for 6 times. 2005-2009

Journal publications:
[1] X.W. Dong, J.X. Xi, G. Lu, Y.S. Zhong, Formation control for high-order linear time-invariant multi-agent systems with time delays, IEEE Transactions on Control of Network Systems, 2014, 1(3): 232-240. (Regular paper)
[2] X.W. Dong, B.C. Yu, Z.Y. Shi, Y.S. Zhong, Time-varying formation control for unmanned aerial vehicles: Theories and applications, IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, 2015, 23(1): 340-348. (IF=2.521, Q1)
[3] X.W. Dong, F.L. Meng, Z.Y. Shi, G. Lu, Y.S. Zhong, Output containment control for swarm systems with general linear dynamics: A dynamic output feedback approach, Systems & Control Letters, 2014, 71(1): 31-37. (IF=1.886, Q2)
[4] X.W. Dong, Z.Y. Shi, G. Lu, Y.S. Zhong, Time-varying formation control for high-order linear swarm systems with switching interaction topologies, IET Control Theory & Applications, 2014, 8(18): 2162-2170.
 (IF=1.844, Q2)
[5] X.W. Dong, J.X. Xi, G. Lu, Y.S. Zhong, Containment analysis and design for high-order linear time-invariant singular swarm systems with time delays, International Journal of Robust and Nonlinear Control, 2014, 24(7): 1189-1204. (IF=2.652, Q1)
[6] X.W. Dong, Z.Y. Shi, G. Lu, Y.S. Zhong, Output containment analysis and design for high-order linear time-invariant swarm systems, International Journal of Robust and Nonlinear Control, in press, 2013. DOI: 10.1002/rnc.3118. (IF=2.652, Q1)
[7] X.W. Dong, Z.Y. Shi, G. Lu, Y.S. Zhong, Formation-containment analysis and design for high-order linear time-invariant swarm systems, International Journal of Robust and Nonlinear Control, in press, 2014. DOI: 10.1002/rnc.3274. (IF=2.652, Q1)
[8] X.W. Dong, J.X. Xi, Z.Y. Shi, Y.S. Zhong, Practical consensus for high-order linear time-invariant swarm systems with interaction uncertainties, time-varying delays and external disturbances, International Journal of Systems Science, 2013, 44(10): 1843-1856. (IF=1.579, Q2)
[9] X.W. Dong, Z.Y. Shi, G. Lu, Y.S. Zhong, Time-varying output formation control for high-order linear time-invariant swarm systems, Information Sciences, 2015, 298(20): 36-52. (IF=3.893, Q1)

Conference publications:
[1] X.W. Dong, J.X. Xi, Z.Y. Shi, Y.S. Zhong, Consensus for high-order time-delayed swarm systems with uncertainties and external disturbances, in Proceedings of 30th Chinese Control Conference, pp. 4852-4859, 2011.
[2] X.W. Dong, J.X. Xi, Z.Y. Shi, Y.S. Zhong, Containment analysis and design for high-order linear time-invariant singular swarm systems with time delays, in Proceedings of 31st Chinese Control Conference, pp. 6296-6302, 2012.
[3] X.W. Dong, J.X.Xi, G. Lu, Y.S. Zhong, Formation analysis and feasibility for high-order linear time-invariant swarm systems with time delays, in Proceedings of 32nd Chinese Control Conference, pp. 7023-7029, 2013.
[4] X.W. Dong, Z.Y. Shi, G. Lu, Y.S. Zhong, Output containment control for high-order linear time-invariant swarm systems, in Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on  Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, pp. 285-290, 2013.
[5] X.W. Dong, Z.Y. Shi, G. Lu, Y.S. Zhong, Formation-containment control for high-order linear time-invariant multi-agent systems, in Proceedings of 33rd Chinese Control Conference, pp. 1190-1196, 2014.
[6] B.C. Yu, X.W. Dong, Z.Y. Shi, Y.S. Zhong, Formation control for quadrotor swarm systems: Algorithms and experiments, in Proceedings of 32nd Chinese Control Conference, pp. 7099-7104, 2013.
[7] B.C. Yu, X.W. Dong, Z.Y. Shi, Y.S. Zhong, Formation-containment control for unmanned aerial vehicle swarm system, in Proceedings of 33rd Chinese Control Conference, pp. 1517-1523, 2014.
[8] Y. Zhou, X.W. Dong, G. Lu, Y.S. Zhong, Time-varying formation control for unmanned aerial vehicles with switching interaction topologies, in Proceedings of 2014 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems, pp. 1203-1209, 2014.

Papers revised/under review:
[1] X.W. Dong, Z.Y. Shi, Z. Ren, Y.S. Zhong, Output formation-containment control for high-order linear time-invariant multi-agent systems, Systems & Control Letters, revised, 2014.
[2] X.W. Dong, Q.D. Li, Z. Ren, Y.S. Zhong, Formation-containment control for high-order linear time-invariant multi-agent systems with time delays, Journal of the Franklin Institute, under review, 2014.
[3] X.W. Dong, Z.Y. Shi, Z. Ren, Y.S. Zhong, Output formation-containment control for swarm systems with directed topologies, The 27th Chinese Control and Decision Conference, under review, 2014.

[4] X.W. Dong, Q.D. Li, Z. Ren, Y.S. Zhong, Formation-containment analysis and design forhigh-order linear time-invariant swarm systems with time delays, The 34th Chinese Control Conference, under review, 2014.

Activities:

IEEE Young Professionals Member, IEEE Member, IEEE Communications Society Member

■ Journal Reviewer
IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control,
IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics,
IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics,
Automatica,
Systems & Control Letters,
International Journal of Robust and Nonlinear Control,
International Journal of Systems Science,
IET Control Theory & Applications,
Asian Journal of Control

■ Conference Reviewer
American Control Conference,
IEEE Conference on Decision and Control,
Asian Control Conference,
Chinese Control Conference, Chinese Control and Decision Conference