From local to global geometry

Our journal paper titled Dispersion Formation Control: from Geometry to Distribution by Jin Chen, Jesús Bautista, Bayu Jayawardhana, Hector Garcia de Marina, has been accepted for publication in the IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control!

In this work, we take a step forward in formation control algorithms. Rather than focusing on local geometry-such as controlling distances or bearings to construct precise shapes (e.g., a regular polygon)-we define a global geometry concept: the dispersion, or equivalently, the control of the global covariance matrix of the agents’ deployment. This approach brings the formation control and behavior of the agents closer to what is observed in nature, while also inheriting interesting resilience properties.