Position and attitude tracking control using CCW and SNI system theory with applications to multi-agent systems

This paper considers position and attitude tracking control. Counterclockwise (CCW) input–output maps from force and torque to position and attitude are established for rigid-body position and attitude motion. Using the properties of counterclockwise systems and negative imaginary (NI) systems, a stabilizing strictly negative imaginary (SNI) controller is shown to drive the tracking errors in position and attitude to zero. In addition, a method to synthesize the strictly negative imaginary controller in a H∞-optimal sense is presented. The control laws are then extended to the formation control problem in multi-agent systems. Numerical results are included.