Robust Circular Formation Control of Dubins Vehicles Under Input Saturation and External Disturbances

TY - JOUR

T1 - Robust Circular Formation Control of Dubins Vehicles Under Input Saturation and External Disturbances

AU - Wang, Jianan

AU - Bi, Changyu

AU - Jiang, Jiaqi

AU - Liu, Junhui

AU - Shan, Jiayuan

AU - Ding, Zhengtao

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 1982-2012 IEEE.

PY - 2026

Y1 - 2026

N2 - This article studies the problem of circular formation control for multiple Dubins vehicles with an identical constant speed and heading angle being the only control input. When moving around a stationary target, each vehicle is assumed to receive information only from a single neighbor. The key contribution of this article is the development of a robust circular formation controller that addresses the issues of input saturation and external disturbances for Dubins vehicles while achieving a desired target-centric formation. Specifically, the monotonic variation intervals of the relative distances between the vehicle and its virtual vehicle are first identified by analyzing the relative motion. Then, an angle smooth-switching strategy is designed to regulate the relative distance between vehicles and reduce the chattering caused by abrupt control switches. Finally, a finite-time angle-tracking controller is proposed that uses a smooth Sigmoid approximation function and a disturbance observer to handle input saturation and external disturbances, respectively. Both numerical simulations and real-world experiments are conducted to validate the effectiveness of the proposed controller.

AB - This article studies the problem of circular formation control for multiple Dubins vehicles with an identical constant speed and heading angle being the only control input. When moving around a stationary target, each vehicle is assumed to receive information only from a single neighbor. The key contribution of this article is the development of a robust circular formation controller that addresses the issues of input saturation and external disturbances for Dubins vehicles while achieving a desired target-centric formation. Specifically, the monotonic variation intervals of the relative distances between the vehicle and its virtual vehicle are first identified by analyzing the relative motion. Then, an angle smooth-switching strategy is designed to regulate the relative distance between vehicles and reduce the chattering caused by abrupt control switches. Finally, a finite-time angle-tracking controller is proposed that uses a smooth Sigmoid approximation function and a disturbance observer to handle input saturation and external disturbances, respectively. Both numerical simulations and real-world experiments are conducted to validate the effectiveness of the proposed controller.

KW - Circular formation control

KW - Dubins vehicle

KW - disturbance

KW - input saturation

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105032146478

U2 - 10.1109/TIE.2026.3656993

DO - 10.1109/TIE.2026.3656993

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:105032146478

SN - 0278-0046

VL - 73

SP - 11764

EP - 11774

JO - IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics

JF - IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics

IS - 8

ER -