Space-and-time-synchronized simultaneous vehicle tracking/formation using cascaded prescribed-time control

TL;DR

This paper introduces a space-and-time-synchronized control method for vehicle tracking and formation, enabling precise state achievement at a set time with independent spatial trajectories, verified through numerical examples.

Contribution

It proposes a novel cascaded prescribed-time control approach that decouples space and time in vehicle formation and tracking tasks, extending to multiple vehicles.

Findings

Effective achievement of target states at predetermined times

Independent control of spatial trajectories in vehicle formation

Numerical simulations confirm scheme's effectiveness and superiority

Abstract

In this paper, we present a space-and-time-synchronized control method with application to the simultaneous tracking/formation. In the framework of polar coordinates, through correlating and decoupling the reference/actual kinematics between the self vehicle and target, time and space are separated, controlled independently. As such, the specified state can be achieved at the predetermined terminal time, meanwhile, the relative trajectory in space is independent of time. In addition, for the stabilization before the predesigned time, a cascaded prescribed-time control theorem is provided as the preliminary of vehicle tracking control. The obtained results can be directly extended to the simultaneous tracking/formation of multiple vehicles. Finally, numerical examples are provided to verify the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed scheme.