Sliding mode approach for formation control of perturbed second-order autonomous unmanned systems

This paper proposes a sliding mode approach for leader-following formation control of perturbed second-order autonomous unmanned systems (AUSs) under directed topology. The leader velocity is assumed to be constant. The formation controller performs two objectives: (i) it obtains the formation control of all the followers, (ii) it achieves the velocity consensus of all the followers. Using Lyapunov stability theory, we have presented the finite-time convergence of sliding surface and asymptotic stability of the closed-loop system. Finally, a numerical example with comparative results demonstrates the efficacy of the proposed method.