Pointing consensus for rooted out-branching graphs

TL;DR

This paper introduces a simple method for achieving pointing consensus in multi-agent networks where agents align their heading vectors towards a common target using only heading information and relative angles, validated through simulations.

Contribution

It presents a novel approach for pointing consensus in rooted out-branching graphs without requiring agents to know their own positions.

Findings

Agents' heading vectors asymptotically align towards a common target.

The method works for almost all initial conditions.

Simulations confirm the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Abstract

Given a network of multiple agents, the pointing consensus problem asks all agents to point toward a common target. This paper proposes a simple method to solve the pointing consensus problem in the plane. In our formulation, each agent does not know its own position, but has information about its own heading vector expressed in a common coordinate frame and some desired relative angles to the neighbors. By exchanging the heading vectors via a communication network described by a rooted out-branching graph and controlling the angle between the heading vectors, we show that all agents' heading vectors asymptotically point towards the same target for almost all initial conditions. Simulations are provided to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method.