Dynamic Event-Triggered Formation Control of Multi-Agent Systems With Non-Uniform Time-Varying Communication Delays

In this study, we address the challenge of time- varying formation control in multi-agent systems (MASs) in the presence of time-varying intra- and inter-agent communication delays. To tackle time-varying delays, we equip each agent with a bank of distributed observers to estimate its own and its neighbors' states. We apply dynamic periodic event-triggered mechanisms to both sensor-to-observer (S-O) and controller-to- actuator (C-A) channels, aiming to reduce unnecessary data transmissions in the network by relying on locally triggered sampled data in a distributed fashion to enhance resource efficiency. In the design stage, we transform the state formation control problem into an asymptotic stability problem. Using the Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional (LKF) approach, we design the event-triggering parameters such that the closed-loop system of all agents is stable and agents reach the desired formation. Numerical simulations demonstrate that our approach achieves a balance by reducing inter-agent communication frequency while maintaining the desired formation. Finally, we illustrate the effectiveness and advantages of this approach through experiments on a real-world robotic system.