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 of single integrator multi-agent systems with directed topology and communication delays

In this paper, a distributed control scheme has been developed for consensus of single integrator multi-agent systems with directed fixed communication topology for arbitrarily large constant, time-varying or distributed communication delays. It is proved that the closed loop control system can reach consensus with an exponential convergence rate if and only if the topology is quasi-strongly connected. Simulation results are also provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller.

Distributed Fault-Tolerant Containment Control for Nonlinear Multi-Agent Systems Under Directed Network Topology via Hierarchical Approach

This paper investigates the distributed fault-tolerant containment control(FTCC)problem of nonlinear multi-agent systems(MASs)under a directed network topology.The proposed control framework which is independent on the global information about the communication topology consists of two layers.Different from most existing distributed fault-tolerant control(FTC)protocols where the fault in one agent may propagate over network,the developed control method can eliminate the phenomenon of fault propagation.Based on the hierarchical control strategy,the FTCC problem with a directed graph can be simplified to the distributed containment control of the upper layer and the fault-tolerant tracking control of the lower layer.Finally,simulation results are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control protocol.

Dynamic Event-Triggered Consensus Control for Input Constrained Multi-Agent Systems With a Designable Minimum Inter-Event Time

This paper investigates the consensus control of multi-agent systems(MASs) with constrained input using the dynamic event-triggered mechanism(ETM).Consider the MASs with small-scale networks where a centralized dynamic ETM with global information of the MASs is first designed.Then,a distributed dynamic ETM which only uses local information is developed for the MASs with large-scale networks.It is shown that the semi-global consensus of the MASs can be achieved by the designed bounded control protocol where the Zeno phenomenon is eliminated by a designable minimum inter-event time.In addition,it is easier to find a trade-off between the convergence rate and the minimum inter-event time by an adjustable parameter.Furthermore,the results are extended to regional consensus of the MASs with the bounded control protocol.Numerical simulations show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Distributed Secondary Control of AC Microgrids With External Disturbances and Directed Communication Topologies:A Full-Order Sliding-Mode Approach

This paper addresses the problem of distributed secondary control for islanded AC microgrids with external disturbances.By using a full-order sliding-mode(FOSM)approach,voltage regulation and frequency restoration are achieved in finite time.For voltage regulation,a distributed observer is proposed for each distributed generator(DG)to estimate a reference voltage level.Different from some conventional observers,the reference voltage level in this paper is accurately estimated under directed communication topologies.Based on the observer,a new nonlinear controller is designed in a backstepping manner such that an FOSM surface is reached in finite time.On the surface,the voltages of DGs are regulated to the reference level in finite time.For frequency restoration,a distributed controller is further proposed such that a constructed FOSM surface is reached in finite time,on which the frequencies of DGs are restored to a reference level in finite time under directed communication topologies.Finally,case studies on a modified IEEE 37-bus test system are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness,the robustness against load changes,and the plug-and-play capability of the proposed controllers.

Multiple Unmanned Underwater Vehicles Consensus Control with Unmeasurable Velocity Information and Environmental Disturbances Under Switching Directed Topologies

A consensus algorithm proposed in the paper is applied to tackle remarkable problems of unmeasurable velocities,the environmental disturbances, and the limited communication environment for the multiple unmanned underwater vehicles(multi-UUVs). Firstly, for a complex nonlinear and coupled model of the unmanned underwater vehicle(UUV), a technique of feedback linearization is developed to transform the nonlinear UUV model into a secondorder integral UUV model. Secondly, to address the problem of the unavailable velocity information and environmental disturbances for the multi-UUVs system, we design a distributed extended state observer(DESO) to estimate the unmeasurable velocities and environmental disturbances using the relative position information. Finally,we propose a protocol based on the estimation information from the DESO and demonstrate that the multi-UUVs system with the switching directed topologies under the protocol can reach consensus asymptotically. The theoretical result proposed in the literature is verified by one numerical example.

A chattering free consensus controller for multiple Lur'e systems with a non-autonomous leader and directed switching topology

Achieving asymptotical cooperative goal for multi-agent systems(MASs)with non-autonomous leaders(i.e.,leaders with nonzero inputs)is a critical but challenging issue.Traditional approach is to use discontinuous controllers which may cause chattering phenomenon in practical applications.How to achieve the asymptotical goal via a chattering free cooperative controller remains to be open so far.In this paper,an adaptive continuous controller is designed to achieve zero error consensus tracking in multiple Lur’e systems with a non-autonomous leader under directed switching topology.Firstly,an unknown input observer(UIO)based on relative outputs is given to estimate the relative full states.Then an adaptive continuous controller is designed by introducing a decay function which remains positive into the term that plays the role of eliminating the impacts of leader’s nonzero inputs.Secondly,by using multiple Lyapunov functions(MLFs)technique,it is proven that zero error consensus tracking can be achieved if the average dwell time(ADT)is greater than a positive threshold.Finally,theoretical result is verified by performing simulations on Chua’s circuits.Compared with existing work,the proposed controller can not only achieve asymptotical consensus,but also is chattering free.

Decentralized attitude synchronization tracking control for multiple spacecraft under directed communication topology

This paper studies the attitude synchronization tracking control of spacecraft formation flying with a directed communication topology and presents three different controllers. By introducing a novel error variable associated with rotation matrix, a decentralized attitude synchronization controller, which could obtain almost global asymptotical stability of the closed-loop system, is developed. Then, considering model uncertainties and unknown external disturbances, we propose a robust adaptive attitude synchronization controller by designing adaptive laws to estimate the unknown parameters. After that, the third controller is proposed by extending this method to the case of time-varying communication delays via Lyapunov-Krasovskii analysis. The distinctive feature of this work is to address attitude coordinated control with model uncertainties, unknown disturbances and time-varying delays in a decentralized framework, with a strongly connected directed information flow. It is shown that tracking and synchronization of an arbitrary desired attitude can be achieved when the stability condition is satisfied. Simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control schemes. (C) 2016 Production and hosting by Elsevier Ltd. on behalf of Chinese Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license.

ON THE EXISTENCE OF ZERO POINTS OF A CONTINUOUS FUNCTION

A sufficient condition is given to assert that a continuous mapping between Rm and Rn has a zero. The constructive proof of the result is based upon continuation methods and supplies the existence of a path leading to the zero point.

Theory and Experiments on Enclosing Control of Multi-Agent Systems

This paper proposes a control strategy called enclosing control.This strategy can be described as follows:the followers design their control inputs based on the state information of neighbor agents and move to specified positions.The convex hull formed by these followers contains the leaders.We use the single-integrator model to describe the dynamics of the agents and proposes a continuous-time control protocol and a sampled-data based protocol for multi-agent systems with stationary leaders with fixed network topology.Then the state differential equations are analyzed to obtain the parameter requirements for the system to achieve convergence.Moreover,the conditions achieving enclosing control are established for both protocols.A special enclosing control with no leader located on the convex hull boundary under the protocols is studied,which can effectively prevent enclosing control failures caused by errors in the system.Moreover,several simulations are proposed to validate theoretical results and compare the differences between the three control protocols.Finally,experimental results on the multi-robot platform are provided to verify the feasibility of the protocol in the physical system.

Distributed Containment Control of Networked Nonlinear Second-order Systems With Unknown Parameters

In this paper, we study the containment control problem for nonlinear second-order systems with unknown parameters and multiple stationary/dynamic leaders. The topologies that characterize the interaction among the leaders and the followers are directed graphs. Necessary and sufficient criteria which guarantee the control objectives are established for both stationary leaders(regulation case) and dynamic leaders(dynamic tracking case) based protocols. The final states of all the followers are exclusively determined by the initial values of the leaders and the topology structures. In the regulation case, all the followers converge into the convex hull spanned by the leaders,while in the dynamic tracking case, not only the positions of the followers converge into the convex hull but also the velocities of the followers converge into the velocity convex hull of the leaders.Finally, all the theoretical results are illustrated by numerical simulations.

COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR DIRECTED STRUCTURE TOPOLOGY OPTIMIZATION

To compensate for the imperfection of traditional bi-directional evolutionary structural optimization, material interpolation scheme and sensitivity filter functions are introduced. A suitable filter can overcome the checkerboard and mesh-dependency. And the historical information on accurate elemental sensitivity numbers are used to keep the objective function converging steadily. Apart from rational intervals of the relevant important parameters, the concept of distinguishing between active and non-active elements design is proposed, which can be widely used for improving the function and artistry of structures directly, especially for a one whose accurate size is not given. Furthermore, user-friendly software packages are developed to enhance its accessibility for practicing engineers and architects. And to reduce the time cost for large timeconsuming complex structure optimization, parallel computing is built-in in the MATLAB codes. The program is easy to use for engineers who may not be familiar with either FEA or structure optimization. And developers can make a deep research on the algorithm by changing the MATLAB codes. Several classical examples are given to show that the improved BESO method is superior for its handy and utility computer program software.

Robust leaderless time-varying formation control for unmanned aerial vehicle swarm system with Lipschitz nonlinear dynamics and directed switching topologies

This paper tackles the robust leaderless Time-Varying Formation(TVF)control problem for the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV)swarm system with Lipschitz nonlinear dynamics,external disturbances and directed switching topologies.In comparison with the previous achievements on formation control problems,the UAV swarm system with Lipschitz nonlinear dynamics can accomplish the pre-designed TVF while tracking a pre-given trajectory which is produced by a virtual leader UAV in the presence of external disturbances.Firstly,by applying the consensus theory,a TVF controller is developed with the local neighborhood status information,the errors of real time status of all UAVs,the expected formation configuration and the pre-given trajectory under directed switching topologies.Secondly,through a certain matrix variable substitution,the UAV swarm system formation control issue is transformed into a lower dimensional asymptotically stable control issue.Thirdly,by introducing the minimum dwell time,the design steps of formation control algorithm are further acquired.In the meantime,the stability of the UAV swarm system is analyzed through the construction of a piecewise continuous Lyapunov functional and via the Linear Matrix Inequalities(LMIs)method.Finally,the comparison results of a numerical simulation are elaborated to verify the validity of the proposed approach.

Consensus for Heterogeneous Multi-Agent Systems with Directed Network Topologies

In this paper, the consensus problem for heterogeneous multi-agent systems composed of first-order and second-order agents is investigated with directed network topologies. Based on a system transformation method, this consensus problem is turned into a consensus problem for homogeneous multi-agent systems. With certain assumption on the control parameters, firstly, necessary and sufficient condition for consensus is proposed with fixed topology. Secondly, sufficient condition is proposed for heterogeneous multi-agent systems to achieve consensus with switching topologies. Finally, simulation examples are presented to verify the effectiveness of the theoretical results.

Distributed cooperative guidance for multiple missiles with fixed and switching communication topologies

This study investigates cooperative guidance problems for multiple missiles with fixed and switching directed communication topologies. A two-step guidance strategy is proposed to realize the simultaneous attack. In the first step, a distributed cooperative guidance law is designed using local neighboring information for multiple missiles to achieve consensus on range-to-go and leading angle. The second step begins when the consensus of multiple missiles is realized. During the second step, multiple missiles disconnect from each other and hit the target using the proportional navigation guidance law. First, based on the local neighboring communications, a sufficient condition for multiple missiles to realize simultaneous attack with a fixed communication topology is presented, where the topology is only required to have a directed spanning tree. Then,the results are extended to the case of switching communication topologies. Finally, numerical simulations are provided to validate the theoretical results.

Fully distributed time-varying formation tracking control for multiple quadrotor vehicles via finite-time convergent extended state observer

This paper investigates a time-varying anti-disturbance formation problem for a group of quadrotor aircrafts with time-varying uncertainties and a directed interaction topology.A novel Finite-Time Convergent Extended State Observer(FTCESO)based fully-distributed formation control scheme is proposed to enhance the disturbance rejection and the formation tracking performances for networked quadrotors.By adopting the hierarchical control strategy,the multiquadrotor system is separated into two subsystems:the outer-loop cooperative subsystem and the inner-loop attitude subsystem.In the outer-loop subsystem,with the estimation of disturbing forces and uncertain dynamics from FTCESOs,an adaptive consensus theory based cooperative controller is exploited to ensure the multiple quadrotors form and maintain a time-varying pattern relying only on the positions of the neighboring aircrafts.In the inner-loop subsystem,the desired attitude generated by the cooperative control law is stably tracked under a FTCESO-based attitude controller in a finite time.Based on a detailed algorithm to specify the cooperative control protocol,the feasibility condition to achieve the time-varying anti-disturbance formation tracking is derived and the rigorous analysis of the whole closed-loop multi-quadrotor system is given.Some numerical examples are conducted to intuitively demonstrate the effectiveness and the improvements of the proposed control framework.

Dynamic Crushing Strength Analysis of Auxetic Honeycombs

The in-plane dynamic crushing behavior of re-entrant honeycomb is analyzed and compared with the conventional hexagon topology.Detailed deformation modes along two orthogonal directions are examined,where a parametric study of the effect of impact velocity and cell wall aspect ratio is performed.An analytical formula of the dynamic crushing strength is then deduced based on the periodic collapse mechanism of cell structures.Comparisons with the finite element results validate the effectiveness of the proposed analytical method.Numerical results also reveal higher plateau stress of re-entrant honeycomb over conventional hexagon topology,implying better energy absorption properties.The underlying physical understanding of the results is emphasized,where the auxetic effect（negative Poisson＇s ratio） induced in the re-entrant topology is believed to be responsible for this superior impact resistance.