Flocking control under virtual leader-follower with communication time-delay

In the paper, we analyze the distributed flocking algorithms under virtual leader-follower model with communication time-delay. Under virtual leader-follower model, flocking algorithm can avoid diverging, but the performance of flocking algorithm with communication time-delay often degrades. In the paper, we analyze the impact brought by communication time-delay on the flocking algorithm when part agents can receive the information of the virtual leader, and simulations are done. Results show that the performance of distributed flocking algorithm depends on the number of agents that can receive the information of the virtual leader and the communication time-delay. Bigger is the number of agents that can receive the information of the virtual leader, better is the performance of flocking algorithms with communication time-delay.