Consensus pursuit of heterogeneous multi-agent systems under a directed acyclic graph

This paper is concerned with the cooperative target pursuit problem by multiple agents based on directed acyclic graph. The target appears at a random location and moves only when sensed by the agents,and agents will pursue the target once they detect its existence. Since the ability of each agent may be different,we consider the heterogeneous multi-agent systems. According to the topology of the multi-agent systems,a novel consensus-based control law is proposed,where the target and agents are modeled as a leader and followers,respectively. Based on Mason’s rule and signal flow graph analysis,the convergence conditions are provided to show that the agents can catch the target in a finite time. Finally,simulation studies are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach.     

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.     

State-dependent event-triggered control of multi-agent systems

Event-triggered control has been recent/y proposed as an effective strategy for the consensus of multi-agent systems. We present an improved distributed event-triggered control scheme that remedies a shortcoming of some previous event- triggered control schemes in the literature. This improved distributed event-triggered method has no need for continuously monitoring each agent＇ neighbors. Moreover, each agent in the multi-agent systems will not exhibit the Zeno behavior. Numerical simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed consensus control.     

Consensus problems of multi-agent systems with noise perturbation

In this paper, by using the stability theory of stochastic differential equations, the average-consensus problem with noise perturbation is investigated. It is analytically proved that the consensus could be achieved with a probability of one. Furthermore, numerical examples are taken to illustrate the effectiveness of the theoretical result.     

Consensus protocol for multi-agent continuous systems

Based on the algebraic graph theory, the networked multi-agent continuous systems are investigated. Firstly, the digraph （directed graph） represents the topology of a networked system, and then a consensus convergence criterion of system is proposed. Secondly, the issue of stability of multi-agent systems and the consensus convergence problem of information states are all analysed. Furthermore, the consensus equilibrium point of system is proved to be global and asymptotically reach the convex combination of initial states. Finally, two examples are taken to show the effectiveness of the results obtained in this paper.     

Improving consensual performance of multi-agent systems in weighted scale-free networks

This paper studies consensus problems in weighted scale-free networks of asymmetrically coupled dynamical units, where the asymmetry in a given link is determined by the relative degree of the involved nodes. It shows that the asymmetry of interactions has a great effect on the consensus. Especially, when the interactions are dominant from higher- to lower-degree nodes, both the convergence speed and the robustness to communication delay are enhanced.     

Output regulation for linear multi-agent systems with unmeasurable nodes

The output regulation of linear multi-agent systems with partial unmeasurable agents is investigated in this paper. All the agents except the exosystem can be classified into two groups. Agents in the first group can be measured by themselves and their neighbors. State variables are not fully accessible for direct communication and full order Luenberger observers are constructed for the unmeasurable agents. We give a state feedback control law to solve the output regulation problem under the communication topologies based on both measurable and unmeasurable agents. The heterogeneous agents’ synchronization problem is a general case of our results. Finally, examples are utilized to show the effectiveness of the obtained results.     

Leader-following formation control of multi-agent networks based on distributed observers

To investigate the leader-following formation control, in this paper we present the design problem of control protocols and distributed observers under which the agents can achieve and maintain the desired formation from any initial states, while the velocity converges to that of the virtual leader whose velocity cannot be measured by agents in real time. The two cases of switching topologies without communication delay and fixed topology with time-varying communication delay are both considered for multi-agent networks. By using the Lyapunov stability theory, the issue of stability is analysed for multi-agent systems with switching topologies. Then, by considering the time-varying communication delay, the sufficient condition is proposed for the multi-agent systems with fixed topology. Finally, two numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed leader-following formation control protocols.     

Agreement coordination for second-order multi-agent systems with disturbances

This paper is devoted to the study of consensus problems for the second-order multi-agent systems with external disturbances, switching topology and communication time-delay. Firstly, we perform a model transformation and separate the agreement states from the disagreement states. Secondly, according to this system, we derive a sufficient condition for consensus problem without disturbances by using the Lyapunov-based approach. Furthermore, we give a design criterion in terms of bilinear matrix inequality for the control protocol in the presence of disturbances. Finally, numerical simulations are provided to show the effectiveness of our strategies.     

Reference model based consensus control of second-order multi-agent systems

This paper deals with the consensus problem of multi-agent systems with second-order dynamics.The objective is to design algorithms such that all agents will have same positions and velocities.First,a reference model based consensus algorithm is proposed.It is proved that the consensus can be achieved if the communication graph has a spanning tree.Different from most of the consensus algorithms proposed in the literature,the parameters of the control laws are different among agents.Therefore,each agent can design its control law independently.Secondly,it gives a consensus algorithm for the case that the velocities of the agents are not available.Thirdly,the effectiveness of the input delay and the communication delay is considered.It shows that consensus can be achieved if the input delay of every agent is smaller than a bound related to parameters in its control law.Finally,some numerical examples are given to illustrate the proposed results.     

Cooperative impulsive formation control for networked uncertain Euler–Lagrange systems with communication delays

This paper investigates the cooperative formation problem via impulsive control for a class of networked Euler–Lagrange systems. To reduce the energy consumption and communication frequency, the impulsive control method and cooperative formation control approach are combined. With the consideration of system uncertainties and communication delays among agents, neural networks-based adaptive technique is used for the controller design. Firstly, under the constraint that each agent interacts with its neighbors only at some sampling moments, an adaptive neural-networks impulsive formation control algorithm is proposed for the networked uncertain Euler–Lagrange systems without communication delays. Using Lyapunov stability theory and Laplacian potential function in the graph theory, we conclude that the formation can be achieved by properly choosing the constant control gains. Further, when considering communication delays,a modified impulsive formation control algorithm is proposed, in which the extended Halanay differential inequality is used to analyze the stability of the impulsive delayed dynamical systems. Finally, numerical examples and performance comparisons with continuous algorithm are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods.     

Stochastic bounded consensus of second-order multi-agent systems in noisy environment

This paper investigates the stochastic bounded consensus of leader-following second-order multi-agent systems in a noisy environment. It is assumed that each agent received the information of its neighbors corrupted by noises and time delays. Based on the graph theory, stochastic tools, and the Lyapunov function method, we derive the sufficient conditions under which the systems would reach stochastic bounded consensus in mean square with the protocol we designed. Finally,a numerical simulation is illustrated to check the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms.     

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 of high-order continuous-time multi-agent systems with time-delays and switching topologies

Consensus problems of high-order continuous-time multi-agent systems with time-delays and switching topologies are studied.The motivation of this work is to extend second-order continuous-time multi-agent systems from the literature.It is shown that consensus can be reached with arbitrarily bounded time-delays even though the communication topology might not have spanning trees.A numerical example is included to show the theoretical results.     

Consensus for second-order multi-agent systems with position sampled data

In this paper, the consensus problem with position sampled data for second-order multi-agent systems is investigated.The interaction topology among the agents is depicted by a directed graph. The full-order and reduced-order observers with position sampled data are proposed, by which two kinds of sampled data-based consensus protocols are constructed. With the provided sampled protocols, the consensus convergence analysis of a continuous-time multi-agent system is equivalently transformed into that of a discrete-time system. Then, by using matrix theory and a sampled control analysis method, some sufficient and necessary consensus conditions based on the coupling parameters, spectrum of the Laplacian matrix and sampling period are obtained. While the sampling period tends to zero, our established necessary and sufficient conditions are degenerated to the continuous-time protocol case, which are consistent with the existing result for the continuous-time case. Finally, the effectiveness of our established results is illustrated by a simple simulation example.     

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.     

Distributed formation control for a multi-agent system with dynamic and static obstacle avoidances

Formation control and obstacle avoidance for multi-agent systems have attracted more and more attention. In this paper, the problems of formation control and obstacle avoidance are investigated by means of a consensus algorithm. A novel distributed control model is proposed for the multi-agent system to form the anticipated formation as well as achieve obstacle avoidance. Based on the consensus algorithm, a distributed control function consisting of three terms(formation control term, velocity matching term, and obstacle avoidance term) is presented. By establishing a novel formation control matrix, a formation control term is constructed such that the agents can converge to consensus and reach the anticipated formation. A new obstacle avoidance function is developed by using the modified potential field approach to make sure that obstacle avoidance can be achieved whether the obstacle is in a dynamic state or a stationary state. A velocity matching term is also put forward to guarantee that the velocities of all agents converge to the same value. Furthermore, stability of the control model is proven. Simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control.     

领导-跟随多智能体系统的滞后一致性

近年来,随着应用的需要和技术的发展,多智能体系统的一致性逐渐成为研究热点.在通信网络和工程应用中,由于信号传播的延迟效应,系统中智能体的状态可能表现为滞后一致.本文提出多智能体系统的滞后一致性概念,研究了有向网络环境下一阶领导-跟随多智能体系统的滞后一致性问题.通过设计合适的控制协议,利用矩阵理论和稳定性理论,获得该系统达到滞后一致的充分条件.数值模拟验证了理论结果的正确性.     

Leader-following consensus criteria for multi-agent systems with time-varying delays and switching interconnection topologies

We consider multi-agent systems with time-varying delays and switching interconnection topologies.By constructing a suitable Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional and using the reciprocally convex approach,new delay-dependent consensus criteria for the systems are established in terms of linear matrix inequalities(LMIs),which can be easily solved by using various effective optimization algorithms.Two numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods.     

Distributed event-triggered consensus tracking of second-order multi-agent systems with a virtual leader

This paper investigates the consensus tracking problems of second-order multi-agent systems with a virtual leader via event-triggered control. A novel distributed event-triggered transmission scheme is proposed, which is intermittently examined at constant sampling instants. Only partial neighbor information and local measurements are required for event detection. Then the corresponding event-triggered consensus tracking protocol is presented to guarantee second-order multi-agent systems to achieve consensus tracking. Numerical simulations are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy.