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Copyright of Journal of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (1006-2467) is the property of Journal of Shanghai Jiao Tong University Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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The induced attack on the formation control of multiagent systems is investigated from the perspective of the attacker, where a new induced attack strategy is proposed to drive the whole formation of multiagent systems to the prescribed reference trajectory. Compared with denial‐of‐service attacks and deception attacks, a desired formation reference trajectory with the stable formation structure is reached by the induced attack instead of disrupting the whole formation. First, the induced attack signal is produced by designing an attack generation exosystem, whose dynamics can be described by the regulated attack matrix and can be adjusted to generate the prescribed reference trajectory. Then, based on the local state information, the formation vector, and the induced attack signal among partial agents, a new distributed induced attack formation protocol is proposed, which is composed of the nominal formation term and the induced attack term. Meanwhile, the induced attack design criterion is proposed by utilizing a robust H∞$$ {H}_{\infty } $$ scheme, where the robust H∞$$ {H}_{\infty } $$ performance bound can be configured by two performance regulating parameters and can be used to design the appropriate regulated attack matrix. Furthermore, by establishing the projection of the induced attack signal onto the formation agreement subspace, an explicit expression of the prescribed reference trajectory is determined, which depicts the movement trajectory of the entire formation of the multiagent system under the induced attack. Finally, a simulation is provided to vindicate the effectiveness of theoretical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Conexão Letras is the property of Conexao Letras and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Enzymatically induced carbonate precipitation (EICP) using urea hydrolysis is a well-known bio-cementation process that not only promotes the precipitation of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) but can provide excess calcium cations for further reaction depending on the substrate constituents and reaction stage. This study presents the EICP recipe to contain sulfate ions in landfill leachate sufficiently using remaining calcium cations and a series of tests were conducted to validate its ability to retain sulfates. The reaction rate for 1 M CaCl2 and 1.5 M urea was identified by controlling the purified urease content and the curing time of the EICP process. The results showed that 0.3 g/L of purified urease produced 46% CaCO3 and reduced sulfate ions by 77% after 3 days of curing. The shear stiffness in EICP-treated sand was enhanced 13 times by CaCO3 precipitation followed by 1.12 times increment due to subsequent precipitation of gypsum (CaSO4·2H2O) crystals implying sulfate containment. A cost-efficient EICP treatment using soybean crude urease instead of lab-grade purified urease exhibited lower sulfate removal efficiency (i.e., 18%) with only nominal formation of gypsum in the EICP-treated sand. The addition of gypsum powder was effective in increasing sulfate removal by 40% when soybean crude urease was used for EICP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a distributed planar leader-follower formation maneuver control strategy for multi-agent systems with different agent dynamic models. This method is based on the barycentric coordinate-based (BCB) control, which can be performed in the local coordinate frame of each agent with required local measurements. By exploring the properties of BCB Laplacians, a time-varying target formation can be BCB localizable by a sufficient number of leaders uniquely, and this formation is converted from a given nominal formation with geometrical similarity transformation. The proposed control laws can continuously maneuver collective single- and double-integrator agents to achieve a translation, scale, rotation, or even their compositions in various directions. For the formation shape control problem of multi-car systems with/without saturation constraints, the obtained control performance can preserve good robustness. Global stability is also proven by mathematical derivations and verified by numerical simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Conexão Letras is the property of Conexao Letras and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper is focused on formation tracking control of multi-agent systems in a leader–follower setting. The objective is to introduce control algorithms to steer a team of mobile agents into a desired, moving geometrical pattern while the agents are unaware of their own and other agents' velocity information during the entire process. We introduce a formation control law under which the agents asymptotically shape a desired geometrical pattern and track a constant reference velocity. Another control law is then introduced to address the case where the reference velocity is time-varying. Both control laws are based on the complex Laplacian approach and do not require agents' velocity information. The convergence of these algorithms are proved and their performance are examined via numerical examples. Simulation results verify the outperformance of the proposed control laws compared to the rival control schemes in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order that the flight vehicle group could form the expected formation, the “leader-follower” formation control law is investigated. First, the distributed extended state observer (DESO) is designed such that the followers could estimate the virtual leader’s position and velocity. Then, the expected positions of the followers are calculated based on the observer outputs and the nominal formation configuration. A dynamic surface control-based position tracking control law is designed for the followers to track the expected positions. Based on the Lyapunov theory, the stability of the proposed method is proved, while numerical simulations validate the effectiveness. The DESO could estimate both the virtual leader’s position and velocity via only the position observations. The method proposed guarantees that the orientation of the formation is consistent with the direction of the virtual leader’s velocity.

• A combinatorial method composed of analytical design and numerical optimization. • The multi-requirement optimization problem is simplified to single-objective one. • A self-adaptive decision variable region adjustment improves computational efficiency. • Optimal LISA formations for different deployment times are investigated. Space-based gravitational wave (GW) detector such as the LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) mission requires high-precision and stability of the triangular formation. The dynamic environment of the detectors is complex, the science requirements for the formation are tight, and consequently, design and optimization of this high-standard formation with essentially many decision variables are very challenging. This paper studies the design and optimization of the stable initial formation of the heliocentric GW detector by taking the LISA as an example. The linearization method based on relative orbital elements is used for formation design in the two-body system. Three constraints are presented to reduce the number of decision variables to fourteen. The geometric features of the arm length and breathing angle of the triangular formation and the relative position of LISA to the Earth are analyzed and numerically verified in a high-fidelity dynamic model, from which the relationships of multiple requirements of LISA are studied, and a single index is summarized to simplify the optimization. Sobol sensitivity analysis is used to quantitatively evaluate the sensitivities of the decision variables to the cost function, with which a self-adaptive adjustment algorithm of the region of the variables is presented to improve the computational efficiency. The availability of the method to quickly and precisely find a stable initial formation in an extensive neighborhood of the nominal formation is verified by numerical simulation, where the best solution decreases about 47.54% of the arm length change from the requirement. This study shows that the initial formation should be deployed appropriately away from the Earth, and the gravitations of Venus and Jupiter should be utilized to maintain the formation stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The practical fixed-time affine formation (PFAF) control problem for multi-agent systems is studied in this brief. The tasks of formation assembly, transformation and time-varying maneuver are able to be completed by affine formation control technique based on stress matrix flexibly and conveniently. Based on time-based generators (TBG) techniques, two fixed-time control laws are designed for leaderless and leader-follower affine formation control problems, respectively. Compared with the existing finite-time affine formation control laws, the convergence times of the proposed control laws in this brief are independent of the system’s initial states. Finally, numerical simulation results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control laws. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers an affine maneuver tracking control problem for leader-follower type second-order multi-agent systems in the presence of time-varying delays, where the interaction topology is directed. Using the property of the affine transformation, this paper gives the sufficient and necessary conditions of achieving the affine localizability and extends it to the second-order condition. Under the (n + 1)-reachable condition of the given n-dimensional nominal formation with n + 1 leaders, a formation of agents can be reshaped in arbitrary dimension by only controlling these leaders. When the neighboring positions and velocities are available, a formation maneuver tracking control protocol with time-varying delays is constructed with the form of linear systems, where the tracking errors of the followers can be specified. Based on Lyapunov-Krasovskii stability theory, sufficient conditions to realize affine maneuvers are proposed and proved, and the unknown control gain matrix can be solved only by four linear matrix inequalities independent of the number of agents. Finally, corresponding simulations are carried out to verify the theoretical results, which show that these followers can track the time-varying references accurately and continuously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Space-based interferometry has gained prominence in recent years, largely because higher spatial resolutions of celestial observations can be achieved with multi-telescope formations compared to those achieved with a fixed-aperture, single telescope. IRASSI is a space interferometer composed of five spacecraft, whose aim is to observe particular chemical and physical processes in cold regions of space, such as dust clouds and stellar disks, in the far-infrared frequencies. Ultimately, the goal is to study the genesis of planets, star formation and evolution processes in these cold regions and to understand how prebiotic conditions in Earth-like planets are created. IRASSI will orbit the second Lagrange point, L 2 , of Sun-Earth/Moon system. The operating principle of IRASSI is based on free-drifting baselines, which dynamically change during the observations and measure therefore the incoming wavefront of a celestial target at different locations in space. This process relies on very accurate measurements of the baselines - at micrometer level - rather than on precise control of the formation. Naturally, a free-flying formation comes with a set of challenges, namely identifying a nominal formation geometry, that is, a suitable dispersion of the telescopes in three-dimensional space. In addition, understanding how this free-drifting geometry is expected to change is crucial, particularly if this may affect the operation of the telescope instruments and thus the quality of the final synthesized images. The present paper describes therefore the major requirements for establishing a desired formation geometry and proposes a preliminary nominal formation for the observations. The relative dynamics of the free-drifting spacecraft are modeled and evaluated. Final considerations regarding formation control are presented and the paper concludes with a summary of the work and outlook for the future. Highlights • Formation geometry based on operational, geometrical and science requirements. • Different relative drift/drift rates patterns provide unique samplings of the target. • Asymmetric double sided-pyramid as a preliminary geometry definition. • Analytical model for relative motion is a good approximation of ephemerides. • Free drift metrics show a stable dynamical environment for the telescopes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the formation tracking problem of the so-called open multiagent systems. In these systems, agents can freely join or leave at any time, i.e. the system sizes are changeable. To achieve formation tracking control in these systems, we propose a general theoretical analysis framework that consists of a formation adjustment strategy and a formation tracking protocol. Therein, the former is used to adjust the predefined task-oriented formation shape to the varying size of the system. This strategy is built on the existing scalable self-healing idea and then modified by a size estimation method. The latter is used to drive the present followers to form the adjusted formation and track a leader. To accommodate undirected and directed graphs, two distributed formation tracking protocols are designed respectively. Due to possible agent migration, the designed tracking protocols are endowed with self-adaptive ability, i.e. without depending on global topology information. Then, their convergence properties are analysed using the Lyapunov theory. Finally, two simulations are presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Fe-(TiC, Mo) composite coating was laser clad onto the surface of Q235 steel, and the study delved into the impact of (TiC, Mo) content (x) on the coating’s microstructure, microhardness, wear resistance and corrosion resistance. The results revealed that as x varied from 0 to 10, 20 and 30 wt.%, the phase composition shifted from α-Fe to α-Fe+γ-Fe+TiC. This transition was accompanied by a constant variation in the proportion of different phases, with a continuous increase in in situ TiC particle content. The microhardness, wear resistance, and corrosion resistance of the coating displayed an initial increase followed by a subsequent decrease with the increase in x, reaching their optimal values at 20 wt.%. This enhancement in microhardness and wear resistance, up by 4.34 and 8.27 times, respectively, can be attributed to fine crystal strengthening, dispersion strengthening, and solid solution strengthening. Furthermore, the incorporation of (TiC, Mo) in the coating facilitated the formation of a dense and uniform passivation film, while grain refinement mitigated the galvanic corrosion effect. As a result, the coating exhibited remarkable corrosion resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The affine formation maneuver (AFM) control problem using the zero-sum differential game is studied for a second-order multi-agent system (MAS) against cyber-injection attacks on the actuators. First and foremost, the distributed control signals and the cyber-injected attack signals are viewed as two competing teams. Then, the leader-follower tracking error system is established where the followers aim to track the AFMs of the leaders. The leader-follower distributed optimal control policies and the cyber-attack attenuation policies are derived from the Nash equilibrium solution of the Hamilton-Jacobi-Isaac (HJI) equation. The solution of the HJI equation is estimated with the aid of the critic neural network. The weights of the critic system are learned online based on the adaptive dynamic programming (ADP) scheme. The uniformly ultimately bounded stability of the closed-loop system under the formulated zero-sum differential game control strategy has been proven by the Lyapunov stability theorem. A simulation example illustrates that the presented control method can attenuate cyber-injection attacks on the actuators and maintain the AFMs of the agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formation control is a fundamental task in the realm of autonomous multiagent systems. To drive a group of agents to maneuver continuously with the desired formation, this paper studies the finite‐time affine formation control problem with disturbances, input constraints and safety guarantee. A non‐singular terminal sliding mode control (NTSMC) is implemented to achieve finite‐time convergence of all followers to their desired positions. Additionally, an auxiliary system is deployed to address input constraints resulting from the physical properties of the affine formation system. To mitigate the impact of lumped disturbances, a finite‐time disturbance observer (FTDO) is employed to estimate the disturbances and compensate for their effects. Based on FTDO, the auxiliary system and the above NTSMC, a finite‐time robust controller is developed as the nominal controller. By modifying the nominal controllers to comply with safety constraints, control barrier functions are employed to ensure the safety of the formation system in obstacle‐filled environment. Finally, the effectiveness and feasibility of this method are validated through simulations and real‐world experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the issue of learning radial basis function neural network (RBFNN)-based robust reconfigurable fault-tolerant configuration control for spacecraft formation flying (SFF) systems subject to thruster faults and space perturbations. To robustly reconstruct thruster faults, a novel learning RBFNN estimator is innovatively explored, in which the P-type iterative learning algorithm is utilized to online update the weight matrix of the RBFNN model and the H∞ control technique is adopted to attenuate the effect of space perturbations. Further, a learning RBFNN output-feedback fault-tolerant control (FTC) method is developed for spacecraft formation configuration maintenance with high accuracy, and the learning RBFNN algorithm is used to update and compensate the synthesized perturbation. Finally, a numerical example is simulated to verify the presented learning RBFNN-based spacecraft formation FTC approach is feasible and superior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local and low-redshift (z < 3) galaxies are known to broadly follow a bimodal distribution: actively star-forming galaxies with relatively stable star-formation rates and passive systems. These two populations are connected by galaxies in relatively slow transition. By contrast, theory predicts that star formation was stochastic at early cosmic times and in low-mass systems1–4. These galaxies transitioned rapidly between starburst episodes and phases of suppressed star formation, potentially even causing temporary quiescence—so-called mini-quenching events5,6. However, the regime of star-formation burstiness is observationally highly unconstrained. Directly observing mini-quenched galaxies in the primordial Universe is therefore of utmost importance to constrain models of galaxy formation and transformation7,8. Early quenched galaxies have been identified out to redshift z < 5 (refs. 9–12) and these are all found to be massive (M⋆ > 1010 M⊙) and relatively old. Here we report a (mini-)quenched galaxy at z = 7.3, when the Universe was only 700 Myr old. The JWST/NIRSpec spectrum is very blue (U–V = 0.16 ± 0.03 mag) but exhibits a Balmer break and no nebular emission lines. The galaxy experienced a short starburst followed by rapid quenching; its stellar mass (4–6 × 108 M⊙) falls in a range that is sensitive to various feedback mechanisms, which can result in perhaps only temporary quenching.Analysis of the JWST/NIRSpec spectrum of the recently observed Lyman-break galaxy JADES-GS+53.15508-27.80178 revealed a redshift of z = 7.3, a Balmer break and a complete absence of nebular emission lines, indicating that quenching occurred only 700 million years after the Big Bang. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the time-varying formation reconfiguration control for multiple underactuated autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) with an Euler–Lagrange-like model. The goal is to control a fleet of AUVs to achieve any desired formation shape using a distance-based graph rigidity and affine transformation (GR-AT) algorithm. Firstly, the distance-based graph rigidity with backstepping technology is utilized to solve the formation controlproblem, and we acquire the initial nominal formation. In the sequel, we transform the nominal formation into any desired formation shape using the properties of the affine transformation (including translation, scaling, rotation, shearing, or a combination of them). Even the geometric shapes formed can be constantly changed. The Lyapunov stability theory can ensure the uniform ultimate boundedness of whole distance errors. Finally, several simulation examples with formation reconfiguration are given to validate the efficacy of the designed control methods. Moreover, some experimental results are presented to confirm the validity and applicability of the scheme with four real bionic robot fish. • The underactuated AUVs are considered in this paper. • Graph rigidity and backstepping techniques are employed to achieve formation control. • Affine transformation technique is used to realize formation reconfiguration. • The Lyapunov based stability analysis shows that the proposed controller is stable. • Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, cooperative circumnavigation (CCN) is studied for groups of networked unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) under a directed interaction topology. The CCN drives UAVs to given planar ellipses with desired spatial formation. A first contribution is that based on affine transformations, CCN control design is structured, which can deploy UAVs on spatial orbits with different radii concerning a moving target in 3-D space. Second, no global information, such as the formation center, the desired radius, the angular velocity of circumnavigation, etc., is needed for any follower UAVs since they are completely maneuvered by the leader UAVs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the formation and obstacle avoidance challenges of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) in complex scenarios, this paper proposes an improved collaborative strategy based on APF (artificial potential field). This strategy combines graph theory, the Leader–Follower method, and APF. Firstly, we used graph theory to design formation topology and dynamically adjust the distances between UAVs in real time. Secondly, we introduced APF to avoid obstacles in complicated environments. This algorithm innovatively integrates the Leader–Follower formation method. The design of this attractive field is replaced by the leader's attraction to the followers, overcoming the problem of unreachable targets in APF. Meanwhile, the introduced Leader–Follower mode reduces information exchange within the swarm, realizing a more efficient "few controlling many" paradigm. Afterwards, we incorporated rotational force to assist the swarm in breaking free from local minima. Ultimately, the stability of the integrated formation strategy was demonstrated using Lyapunov functions. The feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed strategy were validated across multiple platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of affine maneuver control to maintain the desired configuration of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) swarms has been widely practiced. Nevertheless, the lack of capability to interact with obstacles and navigate autonomously could potentially limit its extension. To address this problem, we present an innovative formation flight system featuring a virtual leader that seamlessly integrates global control and local control, effectively addressing the limitations of existing methods that rely on fixed configuration changes to accommodate real-world constraints. To enhance the elasticity of an algorithm for configuration change in an obstacle-laden environment, this paper introduces a second-order differentiable virtual force-based metric for planning local trajectories. The virtual field comprises several artificial potential field (APF) forces that adaptively adjust the formation compared to the existing following control. Then, a distributed and decoupled trajectory optimization framework that considers obstacle avoidance and dynamic feasibility is designed. This novel multi-agent agreement strategy can efficiently coordinate the global planning and local trajectory optimizations of the formation compared to a single method. Finally, an affine-based maneuver approach is employed to validate an optimal formation control law for ensuring closed-loop system stability. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed scheme improves track accuracy by 32.92% compared to the traditional method, while also preserving formation and avoiding obstacles simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) emissions modulated by leaky fast sausage modes (FSMs) in solar active region (AR) loops and examine their observational signatures via spectrometers like the EUV imaging spectrometer (EIS). After computing fluid variables of leaky FSMs with magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations, we forward-model the intensity and spectral properties of the Fe x 185 Å and Fe xii 195 Å lines by incorporating nonequilibrium ionization (NEI) in the computations of the relevant ionic fractions. The damping times derived from the intensity variations are then compared with the wave values, namely, the damping times directly found from our MHD simulations. Our results show that in the equilibrium ionization cases, the density variations and the intensity variations can be either in phase or in antiphase, depending on the loop temperature. NEI considerably impacts the intensity variations but has only marginal effects on the derived Doppler velocity or Doppler width. We find that the damping time derived from the intensity can largely reflect the wave damping time if the loop temperature is not drastically different from the nominal formation temperature of the corresponding emission line. These results are helpful for understanding the modulations to the EUV emissions by leaky FSMs and hence helpful for identifying FSMs in solar AR loops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this brief, we present the results from a flight experiment demonstrating two significant advances in software enabled control: optimization-based control using real-time trajectory generation and logical programming environments for formal analysis of control software. Our demonstration platform consisted of a human-piloted F-15 jet flying together with an autonomous T-33 jet. We describe the behavior of the system in two scenarios. In the first, nominal state communications were present and the autonomous aircraft maintained formation as the human pilot flew maneuvers. In the second, we imposed the loss of high-rate communications and demonstrated an autonomous safe "lost wingman" procedure to increase separation and reacquire contact. The flight demonstration included both a nominal formation flight component and an execution of the lost wingman scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an increasing interest in the affine formation control of multi-agent systems, because it can change the centroid, orientation and scale of the formation by controlling only a few leaders. In this paper, the fault-tolerant affine formation control problem is addressed for double-integrator multi-agent systems with partial loss of efficiency and bias faults. Firstly, in order to track the leaders with dynamically changing accelerations, an acceleration observer with prescribed time convergence is proposed, which can estimate the ideal acceleration for each follower. Then, based on the acceleration observer, a fault-tolerant control algorithm is given. A new Lyapunov function candidate is constructed, based on which a sufficient condition to achieve the control objective is derived. Theoretical analysis shows that the formation tracking error can converge to zero within a prescribed time, and remain in a small neighborhood of zero after that time. Finally, numerical simulations are given to show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm and compare it with existing results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formation path planning is a significant cornerstone for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) swarm intelligence. Previous methods were not suitable for large-scale UAV formation, which suffered from poor formation maintenance and low planning efficiency. To this end, this paper proposes a novel millisecond-level path planning method appropriate for large-scale fixed-wing UAV formation, which consists of two parts. Instead of directly planning paths independently for each UAV in the formation, the proposed method first introduces a formation control strategy. It controls the chaotic UAV swarm to move as a single rigid body, so that only one planning can obtain the feasible path of the entire formation. Then, a computationally lightweight Dubins path generation method with a closed-form expression is employed to plan feasible paths for the formation. During flight, the aforementioned formation control strategy maintains the geometric features of the formation and avoids internal collisions within the formation. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed framework is exemplified through several simulations. The results show that the proposed method can not only achieve millisecond-level path planning for the entire formation but also excellently maintain formation during the flight. Furthermore, simple formation obstacle avoidance in a special case also highlights the application potential of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: How a network of multiple vehicles gets to a goal formation from an initial formation is as important as reaching the goal formation. Despite that stress matrix has been well applied to construct distributed affine formation control, most works have focused on the stabilization or stability issues and paid little attention to the performance regulation or the control parameterization issues. In this paper, we aim to design an error‐model based distributed control for the affine formation maneuver of second‐order multi‐agent systems (MASs), and to demonstrate the advantages of the control approach in performance tuning. The basic idea behind the control design is to force the actual error‐trajectory dynamics of each controlled follower to approximate that of an ideal second‐order error model. The designed controller possesses a notable feature that the historical acceleration command (HAC) is used to enhance system performance during the formation maneuvers. By a theory tool of neutral functional differential equations, we develop a delay‐independent condition on the design parameters, under which the system stability is robust to the actively introduced HAC. Furthermore, we derive an inequality describe the relationship between the ultimate bounds of tracking errors and the delay parameter. This paper presents a clear mechanism to tune the comprehensive performance of affine formation control. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the stability condition and the performance‐tuning mechanism, as well as the possible fragility of the system stability to the delay when the condition is not satisfied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the distributed prescribed‐time formation control problem for the second‐order multi‐agent systems (MASs) subject to matched and mismatched disturbances in time‐varying formation case. As a stepping stone, novel distributed estimators are first proposed to accurately estimate the position and velocity information of the leader within prescribed time. Subsequently, the nominal control protocol is presented for the MAS in the absence of the disturbances to deal with the time‐varying formation control problem, and the prescribed‐time stability of the system is guaranteed. For system subject to matched and mismatched disturbances, the observer‐based integral sliding mode formation control protocol is then presented such that the desired trajectories can be tracked and the desired patterns can be achieved within the prescribed settling time. By adopting the sinusoidal function to the control scheme, the singularity‐like problem is solved if there exist measurement errors in the agents. Finally, a numerical simulation example utilizing unmanned aerial vehicles modeled by Simscape and Solidworks is presented to show the efficiency of the proposed scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Enzymatically induced carbonate precipitation (EICP) using urea hydrolysis is a well-known bio-cementation process that not only promotes the precipitation of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) but can provide excess calcium cations for further reaction depending on the substrate constituents and reaction stage. This study presents the EICP recipe to contain sulfate ions in landfill leachate sufficiently using remaining calcium cations and a series of tests were conducted to validate its ability to retain sulfates. The reaction rate for 1 M CaCl2 and 1.5 M urea was identified by controlling the purified urease content and the curing time of the EICP process. The results showed that 0.3 g/L of purified urease produced 46% CaCO3 and reduced sulfate ions by 77% after 3 days of curing. The shear stiffness in EICP-treated sand was enhanced 13 times by CaCO3 precipitation followed by 1.12 times increment due to subsequent precipitation of gypsum (CaSO4·2H2O) crystals implying sulfate containment. A cost-efficient EICP treatment using soybean crude urease instead of lab-grade purified urease exhibited lower sulfate removal efficiency (i.e., 18%) with only nominal formation of gypsum in the EICP-treated sand. The addition of gypsum powder was effective in increasing sulfate removal by 40% when soybean crude urease was used for EICP.