Decoupled Prescribed Performance and Safe Formation Control of Multi-Agent Systems under Input Constraints

TY - JOUR

T1 - Decoupled Prescribed Performance and Safe Formation Control of Multi-Agent Systems under Input Constraints

AU - Zhao, Xinyue

AU - Yang, Qingkai

AU - Zheng, Kefan

AU - Zhao, Zeming

AU - Zheng, Kaifeng

AU - Fang, Hao

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2004-2012 IEEE.

PY - 2026

Y1 - 2026

N2 - Reliable formation control in real-world multi-agent systems is challenging due to the concurrent need to meet performance specifications, enforce safety constraints, and respect actuator limitations. While prescribed performance control (PPC) ensures bounded error evolution via predefined performance functions, incorporating safety and input constraints within this framework remains nontrivial. This paper develops a modular decoupled control architecture that integrates PPC and control barrier function (CBF) to enforce performance and safety. The fixed performance bound limitation in PPC control is overcome through the introduction of an auxiliary system that adaptively adjusts performance functions, thereby effectively enabling the quantification of performance degradation due to constraints while avoiding control singularities. To further mitigate conflicts between safety and performance, an online trajectory optimization module is designed to generate smooth and collision-free reference trajectories. The proposed approach is validated on a team of Crazyflie quadrotors navigating obstacle environments, demonstrating safe and accurate formation tracking under stringent constraints. Note to Practitioners - This paper is motivated by the practical challenge of controlling formations of multiple agents while simultaneously meeting performance requirements, ensuring safety, and respecting input limitations. Existing approaches typically handle only a subset of these constraints. Therefore, this paper develops a modular decoupled control architecture that combines prescribed performance control to meet performance goals and control barrier function (CBF) to ensure safety and handle input constraints. Separating these two modules simplifies the design and implementation of the controller. To address potential conflicts and avoid singularity issues between the modules, an auxiliary feedback system is introduced to dynamically adjust the performance functions. Additionally, a trajectory optimization module is incorporated to generate a smooth and collision-free reference trajectory. This integrated approach effectively balances performance and safety, even under strict input constraints, making it suitable for multi-agent systems operating in complex environments. Future research will focus on developing adaptive mechanisms for handling more complex dynamic environments with uncertain obstacles and time-varying formations.

AB - Reliable formation control in real-world multi-agent systems is challenging due to the concurrent need to meet performance specifications, enforce safety constraints, and respect actuator limitations. While prescribed performance control (PPC) ensures bounded error evolution via predefined performance functions, incorporating safety and input constraints within this framework remains nontrivial. This paper develops a modular decoupled control architecture that integrates PPC and control barrier function (CBF) to enforce performance and safety. The fixed performance bound limitation in PPC control is overcome through the introduction of an auxiliary system that adaptively adjusts performance functions, thereby effectively enabling the quantification of performance degradation due to constraints while avoiding control singularities. To further mitigate conflicts between safety and performance, an online trajectory optimization module is designed to generate smooth and collision-free reference trajectories. The proposed approach is validated on a team of Crazyflie quadrotors navigating obstacle environments, demonstrating safe and accurate formation tracking under stringent constraints. Note to Practitioners - This paper is motivated by the practical challenge of controlling formations of multiple agents while simultaneously meeting performance requirements, ensuring safety, and respecting input limitations. Existing approaches typically handle only a subset of these constraints. Therefore, this paper develops a modular decoupled control architecture that combines prescribed performance control to meet performance goals and control barrier function (CBF) to ensure safety and handle input constraints. Separating these two modules simplifies the design and implementation of the controller. To address potential conflicts and avoid singularity issues between the modules, an auxiliary feedback system is introduced to dynamically adjust the performance functions. Additionally, a trajectory optimization module is incorporated to generate a smooth and collision-free reference trajectory. This integrated approach effectively balances performance and safety, even under strict input constraints, making it suitable for multi-agent systems operating in complex environments. Future research will focus on developing adaptive mechanisms for handling more complex dynamic environments with uncertain obstacles and time-varying formations.

KW - Formation control

KW - collision avoidance

KW - multi-agent systems

KW - prescribed performance

KW - safety control

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105031556815

U2 - 10.1109/TASE.2026.3667164

DO - 10.1109/TASE.2026.3667164

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:105031556815

SN - 1545-5955

VL - 23

SP - 5940

EP - 5952

JO - IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering

JF - IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering

ER -