Distributed Event-Triggered Distance-Based Formation Control for Multi-Agent Systems

Abstract: This paper addresses the problem of collaborative formation control for multi-agent systems with limited resources. We consider a team of robots tasked with achieving a desired formation from arbitrary initial configurations. To reduce unnecessary control updates and conserve resources, we propose a distributed event-triggered formation controller that relies on inter-agent distance measurements. Control updates are triggered only when the measurement error exceeds a predefined threshold, ensuring system stability. The proposed controller is validated through extensive simulations and real-world experiments involving different formations, communication topologies, scalability tests, and variations in design parameters, while also being compared against periodic triggering strategies. Results demonstrate that the event-triggered approach significantly reduces control efforts while preserving formation performance.