# Efficient Consensus-based Formation Control With Discrete-Time Broadcast Updates

## TL;DR

This paper introduces a consensus-based formation control method for autonomous agents that utilizes wireless broadcast superposition to reduce communication resource usage, with proven convergence and simulation validation.

## Contribution

It proposes a novel discrete-time broadcast update strategy leveraging WMAC, handling fading channels, for efficient formation control.

## Key findings

- Proven convergence of the control strategy.
- Effective formation control demonstrated through simulations.
- Resource savings due to broadcast-based communication.

## Abstract

This paper presents a consensus-based formation control strategy for autonomous agents moving in the plane with continuous-time single integrator dynamics. In order to save wireless resources (bandwidth, energy, etc), the designed controller exploits the superposition property of the wireless channel. A communication system, which is based on the Wireless Multiple Access Channel (WMAC) model and can deal with the presence of a fading channel is designed. Agents access the channel with simultaneous broadcasts at synchronous update times. A continuous-time controller with discrete-time updates is proposed. A proof of convergence is given and simulations are shown, demonstrating the effectiveness of the suggested approach.