A multi-agent system comprises numerous agents that autonomously make decisions to collectively accomplish tasks, drawing significant attention for their wide-ranging applications. Within this context, formation control emerges as a prominent task, wherein agents collaboratively shape and maneuver while preserving formation integrity. Our focus centers on cyclic pursuit, a method facilitating the formation of circles, ellipses, and figure-eights under the assumption that agents can only perceive the relative positions of those preceding them. However, this method's scope has been restricted to these specific shapes, leaving the feasibility of forming other shapes uncertain. In response, our study proposes a novel method based on cyclic pursuit capable of forming a broader array of shapes, enabling agents to individually shape while pursuing preceding agents, thereby extending the repertoire of achievable formations. We present two scenarios concerning the information available to agents and devise formation control methods tailored to each scenario. Through extensive simulations, we demonstrate the efficacy of our proposed method in forming multiple shapes, including those represented as Fourier series, thereby underscoring the versatility and effectiveness of our approach.

翻译：多智能体系统由多个自主决策的智能体组成，通过协同完成集体任务，因其广泛应用而备受关注。在此背景下，编队控制成为一项重要任务——智能体在保持编队完整性的同时协作形成特定队形并机动。我们聚焦于循环追踪方法，该方法在假设智能体仅能感知其前驱智能体相对位置的条件下，可实现圆形、椭圆形及"8"字形编队。然而，该方法此前仅局限于上述特定形状，形成其他形状的可行性尚未明确。为此，本研究提出一种基于循环追踪的新方法，能够生成更广泛的队形，使智能体在追踪前驱智能体的同时独立塑造队形，从而扩展可实现的编队类型。我们针对智能体可获取信息的不同情况提出了两种场景，并设计了适配每种场景的编队控制方法。通过大量仿真实验，我们验证了所提方法在生成多种队形（包括傅里叶级数表征的队形）方面的有效性，充分彰显了该方法的通用性与实效性。