The thesis presents new results on multi-agent formation control focusing on the distributed
stabilization control of rigid formation shapes. It analyzes a range of current research
problems such as problems concerning the equilibrium and stability of formation control systems
or the problem of cooperative coordination control when agents have general dynamical models
and discusses practical considerations arising during the implementation of established
formation control algorithms. In addition the thesis presents models of increasing complexity
from single integrator models to double integrator models to agents modeled by nonlinear
kinematic and dynamic equations including the familiar unicycle model and nonlinear system
equations with drift terms. Presenting the fruits of a close collaboration between several top
control groups at leading universities including Yale University Groningen University Purdue
University and Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) the thesis spans various
research areas including robustness issues in formations quantization-based coordination
exponential stability in formation systems and cooperative coordination of networked
heterogeneous systems.
