Predictive Control Strategy Based Fault-Tolerant Formation Control for Fully Actuated Multi-Agent Systems

The article investigates the critical issue of maintaining formation control in multi-agent systems (MASs) despite the presence of actuator faults. It highlights the significance of fault-tolerant control strategies, which are essential for ensuring the resilience and stability of MASs in real-world applications such as joint rescue operations and coordinated strikes. The paper introduces a predictive control strategy that leverages model predictive control (MPC) to dynamically adjust control inputs, thereby maintaining system stability under fault conditions. A key innovation is the use of a discrete distributed fault estimation observer, which enhances the accuracy of fault detection by utilizing shared state information among neighboring agents. This approach is particularly relevant for fully actuated multi-agent systems (FAMASs), which are more naturally representative of physical systems. The article provides a detailed theoretical framework, including the design of a fault-tolerant formation controller and stability analysis, supported by simulation results for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) formations. These results demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed method in achieving and maintaining desired formation patterns even in the presence of faults, making it a significant contribution to the field of fault-tolerant control.