Finite-time Prescribed Performance Time-Varying Formation Control for Second-Order Multi-Agent Systems With Non-Strict Feedback Based on a Neural Network Observer

This paper studies the problem of time-varying formation control with finite-time prescribed performance for nonstrict feedback second-order multi-agent systems with unmeasured states and unknown nonlinearities.To eliminate nonlinearities,neural networks are applied to approximate the inherent dynamics of the system.In addition,due to the limitations of the actual working conditions,each follower agent can only obtain the locally measurable partial state information of the leader agent.To address this problem,a neural network state observer based on the leader state information is designed.Then,a finite-time prescribed performance adaptive output feedback control strategy is proposed by restricting the sliding mode surface to a prescribed region,which ensures that the closed-loop system has practical finite-time stability and that formation errors of the multi-agent systems converge to the prescribed performance bound in finite time.Finally,a numerical simulation is provided to demonstrate the practicality and effectiveness of the developed algorithm.

Designing Proportional-Integral Consensus Protocols for Second-Order Multi-Agent Systems Using Delayed and Memorized State Information

This paper is concerned with consensus of a secondorder linear time-invariant multi-agent system in the situation that there exists a communication delay among the agents in the network.A proportional-integral consensus protocol is designed by using delayed and memorized state information.Under the proportional-integral consensus protocol,the consensus problem of the multi-agent system is transformed into the problem of asymptotic stability of the corresponding linear time-invariant time-delay system.Note that the location of the eigenvalues of the corresponding characteristic function of the linear time-invariant time-delay system not only determines the stability of the system,but also plays a critical role in the dynamic performance of the system.In this paper,based on recent results on the distribution of roots of quasi-polynomials,several necessary conditions for Hurwitz stability for a class of quasi-polynomials are first derived.Then allowable regions of consensus protocol parameters are estimated.Some necessary and sufficient conditions for determining effective protocol parameters are provided.The designed protocol can achieve consensus and improve the dynamic performance of the second-order multi-agent system.Moreover,the effects of delays on consensus of systems of harmonic oscillators/double integrators under proportional-integral consensus protocols are investigated.Furthermore,some results on proportional-integral consensus are derived for a class of high-order linear time-invariant multi-agent systems.

Bipartite consensus problems of Lurie multi-agent systems over signed graphs: A contraction approach

This paper examines the bipartite consensus problems for the nonlinear multi-agent systems in Lurie dynamics form with cooperative and competitive communication between different agents. Based on the contraction theory, some new conditions for the nonlinear Lurie multi-agent systems reaching bipartite leaderless consensus and bipartite tracking consensus are presented. Compared with the traditional methods, this approach degrades the dimensions of the conditions, eliminates some restrictions of the system matrix, and extends the range of the nonlinear function. Finally, two numerical examples are provided to illustrate the efficiency of our results.

Hyperbolic Tangent Function-Based Protocols for Global/Semi-Global Finite-Time Consensus of Multi-Agent Systems

This paper investigates the problem of global/semi-global finite-time consensus for integrator-type multi-agent sys-tems.New hyperbolic tangent function-based protocols are pro-posed to achieve global and semi-global finite-time consensus for both single-integrator and double-integrator multi-agent systems with leaderless undirected and leader-following directed commu-nication topologies.These new protocols not only provide an explicit upper-bound estimate for the settling time,but also have a user-prescribed bounded control level.In addition,compared to some existing results based on the saturation function,the pro-posed approach considerably simplifies the protocol design and the stability analysis.Illustrative examples and an application demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed protocols.

Computation Tree Logic Model Checking of Multi-Agent Systems Based on Fuzzy Epistemic Interpreted Systems

Model checking is an automated formal verification method to verify whether epistemic multi-agent systems adhere to property specifications.Although there is an extensive literature on qualitative properties such as safety and liveness,there is still a lack of quantitative and uncertain property verifications for these systems.In uncertain environments,agents must make judicious decisions based on subjective epistemic.To verify epistemic and measurable properties in multi-agent systems,this paper extends fuzzy computation tree logic by introducing epistemic modalities and proposing a new Fuzzy Computation Tree Logic of Knowledge(FCTLK).We represent fuzzy multi-agent systems as distributed knowledge bases with fuzzy epistemic interpreted systems.In addition,we provide a transformation algorithm from fuzzy epistemic interpreted systems to fuzzy Kripke structures,as well as transformation rules from FCTLK formulas to Fuzzy Computation Tree Logic(FCTL)formulas.Accordingly,we transform the FCTLK model checking problem into the FCTL model checking.This enables the verification of FCTLK formulas by using the fuzzy model checking algorithm of FCTL without additional computational overheads.Finally,we present correctness proofs and complexity analyses of the proposed algorithms.Additionally,we further illustrate the practical application of our approach through an example of a train control system.

Event-triggered robust cooperative output regulation for a class of linear multi-agent systems with an unknown exosystem

This paper investigates the robust cooperative output regulation problem for a class of heterogeneousuncertain linear multi-agent systems with an unknown exosystem via event-triggered control (ETC). By utilizingthe internal model approach and the adaptive control technique, a distributed adaptive internal model isconstructed for each agent. Then, based on this internal model, a fully distributed ETC strategy composed ofa distributed event-triggered adaptive output feedback control law and a distributed dynamic event-triggeringmechanism is proposed, in which each agent updates its control input at its own triggering time instants. It isshown that under the proposed ETC strategy, the robust cooperative output regulation problem can be solvedwithout requiring either the global information associated with the communication topology or the bounds ofthe uncertain or unknown parameters in each agent and the exosystem. A numerical example is provided toillustrate the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.

Robust adaptive leaderless consensus of unknown non-minimum phase linear multi-agent systems subject to disturbances and/or unmodeled dynamics

This article investigates the problem of robust adaptive leaderless consensus for heterogeneous uncertain nonminimumphase linear multi-agent systems over directed communication graphs. Each agent is assumed tobe of unknown nominal dynamics and also subject to external disturbances and/or unmodeled dynamics. Anovel distributed robust adaptive control strategy is proposed. It is shown that the robust adaptive leaderlessconsensus problem is solved with the proposed control strategy under some sufficient conditions. Two examplesare provided to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed control strategy.

Distributed Adaptive Predefined-Time Bipartite Containment Algorithm for Nonlinear Multi-Agent Systems with Actuator Faults

Distributed adaptive predefined-time bipartite containment for a class of second-order nonlinear multi-agent systems are studied with actuator faults.The communication topology of multi-agent systems is fixed and directed.To ensure that followers can reach the convex hull spanned by leaders under the conditions of actuator faults,the sliding mode method is introduced.Control protocol for multi-agent systems demonstrates its effectiveness.Finally,simulations are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

A PI+R Control Scheme Based on Multi-Agent Systems for Economic Dispatch in Isolated BESSs

Battery energy storage systems(BESSs)are widely used in smart grids.However,power consumed by inner impedance and the capacity degradation of each battery unit become particularly severe,which has resulted in an increase in operating costs.The general economic dispatch(ED)algorithm based on marginal cost(MC)consensus is usually a proportional(P)controller,which encounters the defects of slow convergence speed and low control accuracy.In order to solve the distributed ED problem of the isolated BESS network with excellent dynamic and steady-state performance,we attempt to design a proportional integral(PI)controller with a reset mechanism(PI+R)to asymptotically promote MC consensus and total power mismatch towards 0 in this paper.To be frank,the integral term in the PI controller is reset to 0 at an appropriate time when the proportional term undergoes a zero crossing,which accelerates convergence,improves control accuracy,and avoids overshoot.The eigenvalues of the system under a PI+R controller is well analyzed,ensuring the regularity of the system and enabling the reset mechanism.To ensure supply and demand balance within the isolated BESSs,a centralized reset mechanism is introduced,so that the controller is distributed in a flow set and centralized in a jump set.To cope with Zeno behavior and input delay,a dwell time that the system resides in a flow set is given.Based on this,the system with input delays can be reduced to a time-delay free system.Considering the capacity limitation of the battery,a modified MC scheme with PI+R controller is designed.The correctness of the designed scheme is verified through relevant simulations.

Consensus Control of Multi-Agent Systems Using Fault-Estimation-in-the-Loop:Dynamic Event-Triggered Case

The paper develops a novel framework of consensus control with fault-estimation-in-the-loop for multi-agent systems(MASs)in the presence of faults.A dynamic event-triggered protocol(DETP)by adding an auxiliary variable is utilized to improve the utilization of communication resources.First,a novel estimator with a noise bias is put forward to estimate the existed fault and then a consensus controller with fault compensation(FC)is adopted to realize the demand of reliability and safety of addressed MASs.Subsequently,a novel consensus control framework with fault-estimation-in-the-loop is developed to achieve the predetermined consensus performance with the l_(2)-l_(∞)constraint by employing the variance analysis and the Lyapunov stability approaches.Furthermore,the desired estimator and controller gains are obtained in light of the solution to an algebraic matrix equation and a linear matrix inequality in a recursive way,respectively.Finally,a simulation result is employed to verify the usefulness of the proposed design framework.

Formation-Containment Control Using Dynamic Event-Triggering Mechanism for Multi-Agent Systems

The paper proposes a novel approach for formationcontainment control based on a dynamic event-triggering mechanism for multi-agent systems.The leader-leader and follower-follower communications are reduced by utilizing the distributed dynamic event-triggered framework.We consider two separate sets of design parameters:one set comprising control and dynamic event-triggering parameters for the leaders and a second set similar to the first one with different values for the followers.The proposed algorithm includes two novel stages of codesign optimization to simultaneously compute the two sets of parameters.The design optimizations are convex and use the weighted sum approach to enable a structured trade-off between the formation-containment convergence rate and associated communications.Simulations based on non-holonomic mobile robot multi-agent systems quantify the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Secure Impulsive Synchronization in Lipschitz-Type Multi-Agent Systems Subject to Deception Attacks

Cyber attacks pose severe threats on synchronization of multi-agent systems.Deception attack,as a typical type of cyber attack,can bypass the surveillance of the attack detection mechanism silently,resulting in a heavy loss.Therefore,the problem of mean-square bounded synchronization in multi-agent systems subject to deception attacks is investigated in this paper.The control signals can be replaced with false data from controllerto-actuator channels or the controller.The success of the attack is measured through a stochastic variable.A distributed impulsive controller using a pinning strategy is redesigned,which ensures that mean-square bounded synchronization is achieved in the presence of deception attacks.Some sufficient conditions are derived,in which upper bounds of the synchronization error are given.Finally,two numerical simulations with symmetric and asymmetric network topologies are given to illustrate the theoretical results.

Consensus of high-order dynamic multi-agent systems with switching topology and time-varying delays

This paper studies the consensus problems for a group of agents with switching topology and time-varying communication delays, where the dynamics of agents is modeled as a high-order integrator. A linear distributed consensus protocol is proposed, which only depends on the agent＇s own information and its neighbors＇ partial information. By introducing a decomposition of the state vector and performing a state space transformation, the closed-loop dynamics of the multi-agent system is converted into two decoupled subsystems. Based on the decoupled subsystems, some sufficient conditions for the convergence to consensus are established, which provide the upper bounds on the admissible communication delays. Also, the explicit expression of the consensus state is derived. Moreover, the results on the consensus seeking of the group of high-order agents have been extended to a network of agents with dynamics modeled as a completely controllable linear time-invariant system. It is proved that the convergence to consensus of this network is equivalent to that of the group of high-order agents. Finally, some numerical examples are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the main results.

Cluster consensus of second-order multi-agent systems via pinning control

This paper investigates the cluster consensus problem for second-order multi-agent systems by applying the pinning control method to a small collection of the agents. Consensus is attained independently for different agent clusters according to the community structure generated by the group partition of the underlying graph and sufficient conditions for both cluster and general consensus are obtained by using results from algebraic graph theory and the LaSalle Invariance Principle. Finally, some simple simulations are presented to illustrate the technique.

Distributed Tracking Control of a Class of Multi-agent Systems in Non-affine Pure-feedback Form Under a Directed Topology

In this paper, we consider a consensus tracking problem of a class of networked multi-agent systems(MASs)in non-affine pure-feedback form under a directed topology. A distributed adaptive tracking consensus control scheme is constructed recursively by the backstepping method, graph theory,neural networks(NNs) and the dynamic surface control(DSC)approach. The key advantage of the proposed control strategy is that, by the DSC technique, it avoids "explosion of complexity"problem along with the increase of the degree of individual agents and thus the computational burden of the scheme can be drastically reduced. Moreover, there is no requirement for prior knowledge about system parameters of individual agents and uncertain dynamics by employing NNs approximation technology.We then further show that, in theory, the designed control policy guarantees the consensus errors to be cooperatively semi-globally uniformly ultimately bounded(CSUUB). Finally, two examples are presented to validate the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.

Human-in-the-Loop Consensus Control for Nonlinear Multi-Agent Systems With Actuator Faults

This paper considers the human-in-the-loop leader-following consensus control problem of multi-agent systems(MASs)with unknown matched nonlinear functions and actuator faults.It is assumed that a human operator controls the MASs via sending the command signal to a non-autonomous leader which generates the desired trajectory.Moreover,the leader’s input is nonzero and not available to all followers.By using neural networks and fault estimators to approximate unknown nonlinear dynamics and identify the actuator faults,respectively,the neighborhood observer-based neural fault-tolerant controller with dynamic coupling gains is designed.It is proved that the state of each follower can synchronize with the leader’s state under a directed graph and all signals in the closed-loop system are guaranteed to be cooperatively uniformly ultimately bounded.Finally,simulation results are presented for verifying the effectiveness of the proposed control method.

Necessary and Sufficient Conditions for Consensus in Third Order Multi-Agent Systems

We deal with a consensus control problem for a group of third order agents which are networked by digraphs.Assuming that the control input of each agent is constructed based on weighted difference between its states and those of its neighbor agents, we aim to propose an algorithm on computing the weighting coefficients in the control input. The problem is reduced to designing Hurwitz polynomials with real or complex coefficients. We show that by using Hurwitz polynomials with complex coefficients, a necessary and sufficient condition can be obtained for designing the consensus algorithm. Since the condition is both necessary and sufficient, we provide a kind of parametrization for all the weighting coefficients achieving consensus. Moreover, the condition is a natural extension to second order consensus, and is reasonable and practical due to its comparatively decreased computation burden. The result is also extended to the case where communication delay exists in the control input.

Swarming behavior of multi-agent systems

We consider an anisotropic swarm model with an attraction/repulsion function and study its aggregation properties. It is shown that the swarm members will aggregate and eventually form a cohesive cluster of finite size around the swarm center in a finite time. Moreover, we extend our results to more general attraction/repulsion functions. Numerical simulations demonstrate that all agents will eventually enter into and remain in a bounded region around the swarm center which may exhibit complex spiral motion due to asymmetry of the coupling structure. The model in this paper is more general than isotropic swarms and our results provide further insight into the effect of the interaction pattern on individual motion in a swarm system.

Distributed Adaptive Fault-Tolerant Output Regulation of Heterogeneous Multi-Agent Systems With Coupling Uncertainties and Actuator Faults

In this paper, we consider the distributed adaptive fault-tolerant output regulation problem for heterogeneous multiagent systems with matched system uncertainties and mismatched coupling uncertainties among subsystems under the influence of actuator faults. First, distributed finite-time observers are proposed for all subsystems to observe the state of the exosystem. Then, a novel fault-tolerant controller is designed to compensate for the influence of matched system uncertainties and actuator faults. By using the linear matrix inequality technique, a sufficient condition is provided to guarantee the solvability of the considered problem in the presence of mismatched coupling uncertainties. Moreover, it is shown that the system in closed-loop with the developed controller can achieve output regulation by using the Lyapunov stability theory and cyclic-small-gain theory.Finally, a numerical example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of the obtained result.

Adaptive Memory Event-Triggered Observer-Based Control for Nonlinear Multi-Agent Systems Under DoS Attacks

This paper investigates the event-triggered security consensus problem for nonlinear multi-agent systems(MASs)under denial-of-service(Do S)attacks over an undirected graph.A novel adaptive memory observer-based anti-disturbance control scheme is presented to improve the observer accuracy by adding a buffer for the system output measurements.Meanwhile,this control scheme can also provide more reasonable control signals when Do S attacks occur.To save network resources,an adaptive memory event-triggered mechanism(AMETM)is also proposed and Zeno behavior is excluded.It is worth mentioning that the AMETM's updates do not require global information.Then,the observer and controller gains are obtained by using the linear matrix inequality(LMI)technique.Finally,simulation examples show the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.