{"id":{"repo_id":"vt","oai_identifier":"oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/35865"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/vt/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/35865","repository":{"repo_id":"vt","name":"Virginia Tech","base_url":"https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Formation Fidelity of Simulated Unmanned Autonomous Vehicles through Periodic Communication","abstract":"Controlling a formation of unmanned autonomous vehicles is a daunting prospect even when the formation operates under ideal conditions. When communication between vehicles is limited, maintaining a formation becomes difficult. In some cases the formation may become unstable. While a control law may stabilize a formation of vehicles with good communication, it may not be able to do so with poor communication. The resulting lack of formation stability affects the level of ï¬ delity the formation has to the original control law. Formation ï¬ delity is the degree to which the vehicles in a formation follow the trajectories prescribed by a control law. Many formation control laws assume certain conditions. Perfect formation ï¬ delity is not guaranteed when the vehicles in a formation are no longer operated under those conditions. We seek to mitigate the detrimental effects of poor communication and other real-world phenomena on formation ï¬ delity. Through simulation we test the effectiveness of a new way to implement an existing formation control law. Real-world conditions such as rigid-body motion, swarm dynamics, poor communication, and other phenomena are assessed and discussed. It is concluded through testing in simulation that it is possible to control a formation of boats by directing each boat with a unique set of waypoints in simulation. While these waypoints do not lead to perfect formation behavior, testing shows that implementing this control law using these waypoints allows the formation to be more robust to reduced communication.","abstract_html":"Controlling a formation of unmanned autonomous vehicles is a daunting prospect even when the formation operates under ideal conditions. When communication between vehicles is limited, maintaining a formation becomes difficult. In some cases the formation may become unstable. While a control law may stabilize a formation of vehicles with good communication, it may not be able to do so with poor communication. The resulting lack of formation stability affects the level of ï¬ delity the formation has to the original control law. Formation ï¬ delity is the degree to which the vehicles in a formation follow the trajectories prescribed by a control law. Many formation control laws assume certain conditions. Perfect formation ï¬ delity is not guaranteed when the vehicles in a formation are no longer operated under those conditions. We seek to mitigate the detrimental effects of poor communication and other real-world phenomena on formation ï¬ delity. Through simulation we test the effectiveness of a new way to implement an existing formation control law. Real-world conditions such as rigid-body motion, swarm dynamics, poor communication, and other phenomena are assessed and discussed. It is concluded through testing in simulation that it is possible to control a formation of boats by directing each boat with a unique set of waypoints in simulation. While these waypoints do not lead to perfect formation behavior, testing shows that implementing this control law using these waypoints allows the formation to be more robust to reduced communication.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Twigg, Jeffrey Newman"],"institution":"Virginia Tech","degree_name":"Master of Science","degree_level":"masters","degree_discipline":"Engineering Science and Mechanics","degree_department":"Engineering Science and Mechanics","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":["Ross, Shane D."],"committee_members":["Kraige, Luther Glenn","Woolsey, Craig A."],"year":2009,"date_issued":"2009-11-20","date_published":"2009-11-20","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:20:34Z","subjects":["Leaderless Formation Control","Communication Error"],"languages":[],"rights":["In Copyright"],"rights_urls":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["etd-11302009-120615"],"render_values":[{"text":"etd-11302009-120615","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/10919/35865","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.committeechair","label":"Committee Chair","values":["Ross, Shane D."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.committeemember","label":"Committee Member","values":["Kraige, Luther Glenn","Woolsey, Craig A."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Engineering Science and Mechanics"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Twigg, Jeffrey Newman"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2014-03-14T20:48:33Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2014-03-14T20:48:33Z","2009-12-07"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2009-11-20"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Virginia Tech"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Engineering Science and Mechanics"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["masters"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Leaderless Formation Control","Communication Error"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["In Copyright"]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["etd-11302009-120615"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/10919/35865"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Controlling a formation of unmanned autonomous vehicles is a daunting prospect even when the formation operates under ideal conditions. When communication between vehicles is limited, maintaining a formation becomes difficult. In some cases the formation may become unstable. While a control law may stabilize a formation of vehicles with good communication, it may not be able to do so with poor communication. The resulting lack of formation stability affects the level of ï¬ delity the formation has to the original control law. Formation ï¬ delity is the degree to which the vehicles in a formation follow the trajectories prescribed by a control law. Many formation control laws assume certain conditions. Perfect formation ï¬ delity is not guaranteed when the vehicles in a formation are no longer operated under those conditions. We seek to mitigate the detrimental effects of poor communication and other real-world phenomena on formation ï¬ delity. Through simulation we test the effectiveness of a new way to implement an existing formation control law. Real-world conditions such as rigid-body motion, swarm dynamics, poor communication, and other phenomena are assessed and discussed. It is concluded through testing in simulation that it is possible to control a formation of boats by directing each boat with a unique set of waypoints in simulation. While these waypoints do not lead to perfect formation behavior, testing shows that implementing this control law using these waypoints allows the formation to be more robust to reduced communication."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Master of Science"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Formation Fidelity of Simulated Unmanned Autonomous Vehicles through Periodic Communication"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.committeechair":["Ross, Shane D."],"dc:contributor.committeemember":["Kraige, Luther Glenn","Woolsey, Craig A."],"dc:contributor.department":["Engineering Science and Mechanics"],"dc:creator":["Twigg, Jeffrey Newman"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2014-03-14T20:48:33Z"],"dc:date.available":["2014-03-14T20:48:33Z","2009-12-07"],"dc:date.issued":["2009-11-20"],"dc:description.abstract":["Controlling a formation of unmanned autonomous vehicles is a daunting prospect even when the formation operates under ideal conditions. When communication between vehicles is limited, maintaining a formation becomes difficult. In some cases the formation may become unstable. While a control law may stabilize a formation of vehicles with good communication, it may not be able to do so with poor communication. The resulting lack of formation stability affects the level of ï¬ delity the formation has to the original control law. Formation ï¬ delity is the degree to which the vehicles in a formation follow the trajectories prescribed by a control law. Many formation control laws assume certain conditions. Perfect formation ï¬ delity is not guaranteed when the vehicles in a formation are no longer operated under those conditions. We seek to mitigate the detrimental effects of poor communication and other real-world phenomena on formation ï¬ delity. Through simulation we test the effectiveness of a new way to implement an existing formation control law. Real-world conditions such as rigid-body motion, swarm dynamics, poor communication, and other phenomena are assessed and discussed. It is concluded through testing in simulation that it is possible to control a formation of boats by directing each boat with a unique set of waypoints in simulation. While these waypoints do not lead to perfect formation behavior, testing shows that implementing this control law using these waypoints allows the formation to be more robust to reduced communication."],"dc:description.degree":["Master of Science"],"dc:identifier.other":["etd-11302009-120615"],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/10919/35865"],"dc:publisher":["Virginia Tech"],"dc:rights":["In Copyright"],"dc:rights.uri":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dc:subject":["Leaderless Formation Control","Communication Error"],"dc:title":["Formation Fidelity of Simulated Unmanned Autonomous Vehicles through Periodic Communication"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Engineering Science and Mechanics"],"thesis:degree_level":["masters"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science"],"thesis:institution_name":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:20:34Z"}