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.

Robust Consensus of Multi-Agent Systems with Uncertain Exogenous Disturbances

The objective of this paper is to investigate the consensus of the multi-agent systems w/th nonlinear coupling function and external disturbances. The disturbance includes two parts, one part is supposed to be generated by an exogenous system, which is not required to be neutrally stable as in the output regulation theory, the other part is the modeling uncertainty in the exogenous disturbance system. A novel composite disturbance observer based control （DOBC） and H∞ control scheme is presented so that the disturbance with the exogenous system can be estimated and compensated and the consensus of the multi-agent systems with fixed and switching graph can be reached by using Hoo control law. Simulations demonstrate the advantages of the proposed DOBC and H∞ control scheme.

Group consensus of multi-agent systems subjected to cyber-attacks

In this paper, we investigate the group consensus for leaderless multi-agent systems. The group consensus protocol based on the position information from neighboring agents is designed. The network may be subjected to frequent cyberattacks, which is close to an actual case. The cyber-attacks are assumed to be recoverable. By utilizing algebraic graph theory, linear matrix inequality(LMI) and Lyapunov stability theory, the multi-agent systems can achieve group consensus under the proposed control protocol. The sufficient conditions of the group consensus for the multi-agent networks subjected to cyber-attacks are given. Furthermore, the results are extended to the consensus issue of multiple subgroups with cyber-attacks. Numerical simulations are performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results.

Research on consensus of multi-agent systems with and without input saturation constraints

In recent years,with the continuous development of multi-agent technology represented by unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)swarm,consensus control has become a hot spot in academic research.In this paper,we put forward a discrete-time consensus protocol and obtain the necessary and sufficient conditions for the second-order consensus of the second-order multi-agent system with a fixed structure under the condition of no saturation input.The theoretical derivation verifies that the two eigenvalues of the Laplacian of the communication network matrix and the sampling period have an important effect on achieving consensus.Then we construct and verify sufficient conditions to achieve consensus under the condition of input saturation constraints.The results show that consensus can be achieved if velocity,position gain,and sampling period satisfy a set of inequalities related to the eigenvalues of the Laplacian matrix.Finally,the accuracy and validity of the theoretical results are proved by numerical simulations.

Average consensus of multi-agent systems with communication time delays and noisy links

In this paper,we consider the average-consensus problem with communication time delays and noisy links.We analyze two different cases of coupling topologies：fixed and switching topologies.By utilizing the stability theory of the stochastic differential equations,we analytically show that the average consensus could be achieved almost surely with the perturbation of noise and the communication time delays even if the time delay is time-varying.The theoretical results show that multi-agent systems can tolerate relatively large time delays if the noise is weak,and they can tolerate relatively strong noise if the time delays are low.The simulation results show that systems with strong noise intensities yield slow convergence.

Finite-time consensus of multi-agent systems driven by hyperbolic partial differential equations via boundary control

The leaderless and leader-following finite-time consensus problems for multiagent systems(MASs)described by first-order linear hyperbolic partial differential equations(PDEs)are studied.The Lyapunov theorem and the unique solvability result for the first-order linear hyperbolic PDE are used to obtain some sufficient conditions for ensuring the finite-time consensus of the leaderless and leader-following MASs driven by first-order linear hyperbolic PDEs.Finally,two numerical examples are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed methods.

Connectivity-maintaining Consensus of Multi-agent Systems With Communication Management Based on Predictive Control Strategy

This paper studies the connectivity-maintaining consensus of multi-agent systems.Considering the impact of the sensing ranges of agents for connectivity and communication energy consumption,a novel communication management strategy is proposed for multi-agent systems so that the connectivity of the system can be maintained and the communication energy can be saved.In this paper,communication management means a strategy about how the sensing ranges of agents are adjusted in the process of reaching consensus.The proposed communication management in this paper is not coupled with controller but only imposes a constraint for controller,so there is more freedom to develop an appropriate control strategy for achieving consensus.For the multi-agent systems with this novel communication management,a predictive control based strategy is developed for achieving consensus.Simulation results indicate the effectiveness and advantages of our scheme.

Rotating consensus of multi-agent systems without relative velocity measurement

We study the rotating consensus of multi-agent systems without the relative velocity measurement in this paper. A new protocol is proposed. Then we use the theory of the complex system combined with the function continuity to derive a condition, under which all agents finally reach the rotating consensus. Finally, a numerical example is provided to illustrate our theoretical results.

Collective composite-rotating consensus of multi-agent systems

This paper investigates a distributed composite-rotating consensus problem of second-order multi-agent systems, where all agents move in a nested circular orbit. A distributed control law is proposed which contains two parts： the local state feedback that guarantees the circular motion and the distributed relative state feedback that guarantees the consensus of all agents. A sufficient condition is derived to drive all agents as well as ensure their circle centers make circular motion in a distributed manner. Finally, a numerical simulation is included to demonstrate our theoretical results.

Consensus of Multi-Agent Systems with Input Constraints Based on Distributed Predictive Control Scheme

Consensus control of multi-agent systems has attracted compelling attentions from various scientific communities for its promising applications.This paper presents a discrete-time consensus protocol for a class of multi-agent systems with switching topologies and input constraints based on distributed predictive control scheme.The consensus protocol is not only distributed but also depends on the errors of states between agent and its neighbors.We focus mainly on dealing with the input constraints and a distributed model predictive control scheme is developed to achieve stable consensus under the condition that both velocity and acceleration constraints are included simultaneously.The acceleration constraint is regarded as the changing rate of velocity based on some reasonable assumptions so as to simplify the analysis.Theoretical analysis shows that the constrained system steered by the proposed protocol achieves consensus asymptotically if the switching interaction graphs always have a spanning tree.Numerical examples are also provided to illustrate the validity of the 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.

Leader-Following Consensus of Multi-Agent Systems via Fully Distributed Event-Based Control

This paper aims to study the leader-following consensus of linear multi-agent systems on undirected graphs.Specifically,we construct an adaptive event-based protocol that can be implemented in a fully distributed way by using only local relative information.This protocol is also resource-friendly as it will be updated only when the agent violates the designed event-triggering function.A sufficient condition is proposed for the leader-following consensus of linear multi-agent systems based on the Lyapunov approach,and the Zeno-behavior is excluded.Finally,two numerical examples are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results.

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.

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.

Consensus Control of Leader-Following Multi-Agent Systems in Directed Topology With Heterogeneous Disturbances

This paper investigates the consensus problem for linear multi-agent systems with the heterogeneous disturbances generated by the Brown motion.Its main contribution is that a control scheme is designed to achieve the dynamic consensus for the multi-agent systems in directed topology interfered by stochastic noise.In traditional ways,the coupling weights depending on the communication structure are static.A new distributed controller is designed based on Riccati inequalities,while updating the coupling weights associated with the gain matrix by state errors between adjacent agents.By introducing time-varying coupling weights into this novel control law,the state errors between leader and followers asymptotically converge to the minimum value utilizing the local interaction.Through the Lyapunov directed method and It?formula,the stability of the closed-loop system with the proposed control law is analyzed.Two simulation results conducted by the new and traditional schemes are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness and advantage of the developed control method.

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.