Multi-agent systems have numerous civilian, homeland security, and
military applications; however, for all these applications,
communication bandwidth, sensing range, power constraints, and stealth
requirements preclude centralized command and control. The alternative
is distributed coordination, which is more promising in terms of
scalability, robustness, and flexibility. Distributed Coordination of
Multi-agent Networks introduces problems, models, and issues such as
collective periodic motion coordination, collective tracking with a
dynamic leader, and containment control with multiple leaders, and
explores ideas for their solution. Solving these problems extends the
existing application domains of multi-agent networks; for example,
collective periodic motion coordination is appropriate for applications
involving repetitive movements, collective tracking guarantees tracking
of a dynamic leader by multiple followers in the presence of reduced
interaction and partial measurements, and containment control enables
maneuvering of multiple followers by multiple leaders. The authors'
models for distributed coordination arise from physical constraints and
the complex environments in which multi-agent systems operate; they
include Lagrangian models - more realistic for mechanical-systems
modeling than point models - and fractional-order systems which better
represent the consequences of environmental complexity. Other issues
addressed in the text include the time delays inherent in networked
systems, optimality concerns associated with the deisgn of
energy-efficent algorithms, and the use of sampled-data settings in
systems with intermittent neightbor-neighbor contact. Researchers,
graduate students, and engineers interested in the field of multi-agent
systems will find this monograph useful in introducing them to presently
emerging research directions and problems in distributed coordination of
multi-agent networks. The Communications and Control Engineering series
reports major technological advances which have potential for great
impact in the fields of communication and control. It reflects research
in industrial and academic institutions around the world so that the
readership can exploit new possibilities as they become available.
