Formation tracking control for time-delayed multi-agent systems with second-order dynamics

In this paper, formation tracking control problems for second-order multi-agent systems（MASs） with time-varying delays are studied, specifically those where the position and velocity of followers are designed to form a time-varying formation while tracking those of the leader. A neighboring relative state information based formation tracking protocol with an unknown gain matrix and time-varying delays is presented. The formation tracking problems are then transformed into asymptotically stable problems. Based on the Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional approach, conditions sufficient for second-order MASs with time-varying delays to realize formation tracking are examined. An approach to obtain the unknown gain matrix is given and, since neighboring relative velocity information is difficult to measure in practical applications, a formation tracking protocol with time-varying delays using only neighboring relative position information is introduced. The proposed results can be used on target enclosing problems for MASs with second-order dynamics and time-varying delays. An application for target enclosing by multiple unmanned aerial vehicles（UAVs） is given to demonstrate the feasibility of theoretical results.

Second-Order Consensus in Networks of Agents with Delayed Dynamics

This paper proposes second-order consensus protocols and gives a measure of the robustness of the protocols to the time-delays existing in the dynamics of agents with second-order dynamics. By employing a frequency domain method, it is proven that the information states achieve second-order consensus asymptotically for appropriate time-delay if the topology of the network is connected. Particularly, a nonconservative upper bound on the fixed time-delay that can be tolerated is found. The consensus protocols are distributed in the sense that each agent only needs information from its neighboring agents, which makes the proposed protocols scalable. It reduces the complexity of connections among agents significantly. Simulation results are provided to verify the effectiveness of the theoretical results for second-order consensus in networks in the presence of time-delays existing in the dynamics of agents.

Digital spiral object identification using random light

Photons that are entangled or correlated in orbital angular momentum have been extensively used for remote sensing,object identification and imaging.It has recently been demonstrated that intensity fluctuations give rise to the formation of correlations in the orbital angular momentum components and angular positions of random light.Here we demonstrate that the spatial signatures and phase information of an object with rotational symmetries can be identified using classical orbital angular momentum correlations in random light.The Fourier components imprinted in the digital spiral spectrum of the object,as measured through intensity correlations,unveil its spatial and phase information.Sharing similarities with conventional compressive sensing protocols that exploit sparsity to reduce the number of measurements required to reconstruct a signal,our technique allows sensing of an object with fewer measurements than other schemes that use pixel-by-pixel imaging.One remarkable advantage of our technique is that it does not require the preparation of fragile quantum states of light and operates at both low-and high-light levels.In addition,our technique is robust against environmental noise,a fundamental feature of any realistic scheme for remote sensing.