Attitude Synchronization for Multi-Agent Systems on SO(3) Using Vector Measurements

Abstract: In this paper, we address the problem of leaderless attitude synchronization for a group of rigid body systems evolving on SO(3), relying on local measurements of some inertial (unit-length) vectors. The interaction graph among agents is assumed to be undirected, acyclic, and connected. We first present a distributed attitude synchronization scheme designed at the kinematic level of SO(3), followed by an extended scheme designed at the dynamic level. Both schemes are supported by a rigorous stability analysis, which establishes their almost global asymptotic stability properties. Finally, numerical simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of both distributed attitude synchronization schemes.