Stochastic bounded consensus tracking of second-order multi-agent systems with measurement noises based on sampled-data with general sampling delay

This paper investigates the stochastic bounded consensus tracking problems of second-order multi-agent systems, where the control input of an agent can only use the information measured at the sampling instants from its neighbours or the virtual leader with a time-varying reference state, the measurements are corrupted by random noises and the signal sampling process induces the general sampling delay. First, the stochastic bounded consensus tracking protocol based on sampled-data with the general sampling delay is presented by using the delay decomposition technique. Second, the augmented matrix method, the probability limit theory and some other techniques are employed to derive the necessary and sufficient conditions guaranteeing the mean square bounded consensus tracking. The theoretical results show that the convergence of the proposed protocol simultaneously depends on the constant feedback gains, the network topology, the sampled period and the sampling delay, and that the static consensus tracking error depends on not only the above-mentioned factors, but also the noise intensity and the upper bound of the velocity and the acceleration of the virtual leader. The obtained results cover no sampling delay and the small sampling delay as two special cases. Simulations are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results.     

Stochastic Bounded Consensus Tracking of Second-Order Multi-Agent Systems with Measurement Noises and Sampled-Data

This paper investigates the stochastic bounded consensus tracking problems of second-order multi-agent systems, where the control input of an agent can only use the information measured at the sampling instants from its neighbors or the virtual leader with a time-varying reference state, and the measurements are corrupted by random noises. The probability limit theory, the algebra graph theory, and some other techniques are employed to derive the necessary and sufficient condition guaranteeing the mean square bounded consensus tracking. It turns out that the maximum allowable sampling period depends on not only the network topology but also the constant feedback gains. Furthermore, the effects of the sampling period on tracking performance, including the tracking speed and the static tracking error, are also analyzed. The results show that reducing the sampling period can accelerate the tracking speed and decrease the static tracking error. Simulations are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results.     

Distributed adaptive output feedback tracking control for a class of uncertain nonlinear multi-agent systems

This paper addresses the distributed output feedback tracking control problem for multi-agent systems with higher order nonlinear non-strict-feedback dynamics and directed communication graphs. The existing works usually design a distributed consensus controller using all the states of each agent, which are often immeasurable, especially in nonlinear systems. In this paper, based only on the relative output between itself and its neighbours, a distributed adaptive consensus control law is proposed for each agent using the backstepping technique and approximation technique of Fourier series (FS) to solve the output feedback tracking control problem of multi-agent systems. The FS structure is taken not only for tracking the unknown nonlinear dynamics but also the unknown derivatives of virtual controllers in the controller design procedure, which can therefore prevent virtual controllers from containing uncertain terms. The projection algorithm is applied to ensure that the estimated parameters remain in some known bounded sets. Lyapunov stability analysis shows that the proposed control law can guarantee that the output of each agent synchronises to the leader with bounded residual errors and that all the signals in the closed-loop system are uniformly ultimately bounded. Simulation results have verified the performance and feasibility of the proposed distributed adaptive control strategy.     

Distributed finite-time consensus tracking for nonlinear multi-agent systems with a time-varying reference state

This paper investigates the consensus tracking problem for nonlinear multi-agent systems with a time-varying reference state. The consensus reference is taken as a virtual leader, whose output is only its position information that is available to only a subset of a group of followers. The dynamics of each follower consists of two terms: nonlinear inherent dynamics and a simple communication protocol relying only on the position of its neighbours. In this paper, the consensus tracking problem is respectively considered under fixed and switching communication topologies. Some corresponding sufficient conditions are obtained to guarantee the states of followers can converge to the state of the virtual leader in finite time. Rigorous proofs are given by using graph theory, matrix theory, and Lyapunov theory. Simulations are presented to illustrate the theoretical analysis.     

Distributed consensus tracking of multi-agent systems with nonlinear dynamics under a reference leader

This paper investigates the distributed consensus tracking problem for multi-agent systems with Lipschitz-type dynamics under a reference leader. It is assumed that the leader state information is only available to a subset of followers, while the bounded reference input of the leader’s is unavailable to any follower. To achieve consensus tracking, a class of discontinuous protocols based on the relative information between the neighbouring agents are proposed. Furthermore, as extensions of the former result, the robust and adaptive consensus tracking problems are studied for the case where there exist parameter uncertainties and external disturbances in the network. Finally, the effectiveness of the theoretical result is demonstrated through a network of single-link manipulators.     

非仿射非线性多智能体系统迭代学习一致跟踪

为了解决非仿射非线性多智能体系统在给定时间区间上一致性完全跟踪问题,基于迭代学习控制方法设计一种分布式一致性跟踪控制算法.首先,由引入的虚拟领导者与所有跟随者组成多智能体系统的通信拓扑,其中虚拟领导者的作用是提供期望轨迹.然后,在只有部分跟随者能够获得领导者信息的条件下,利用每个跟随者及其邻居的跟踪误差构造每个跟随者的迭代学习一致性跟踪控制器.同时采用中值定理将非仿射非线性多智能体系统转化仿射形式,并基于压缩映射方法证明所提算法的收敛性,给出算法的收敛条件.理论分析表明,在智能体的非线性函数未知情况下,利用所提算法可以使非仿射非线性多智能体系统在给定时间区间上随迭代次数增加逐次实现一致性完全跟踪.最后,通过仿真算例进一步验证所提算法的有效性.     

Pattern preserving path following of unicycle teams with communication delays

This paper examines the problem of pattern-preserving path following control for unicycle teams with time-varying communication delay. A key strategy used here introduces a virtual vehicle formation such that each real vehicle has a corresponding virtual vehicle as its pursuit target. Under an input-driven consensus protocol, the virtual vehicle formation is forced to stay close to the desired vehicle formation; and a novel controller design is proposed to achieve virtual leader tracking for each vehicle with constrained motion. It is shown that, by the proposed strategy, the pattern can be preserved if the formation speed is less than some computable value that decreases with increasing size of delay, and the exact desired formation pattern can be eventually achieved if this speed tends to zero.     

Adaptive consensus tracking of high-order nonlinear multi-agent systems with directed communication graphs

This paper studies the adaptive consensus tracking problem for multi-agent systems modeled as high-order integrators with uncertain nonlinear dynamics under directed communication graphs. By parameterizing the unknown dynamics of the agents and the unknown input of the leader, two decentralized tracking control laws are designed using the state information and only the output information, respectively. With state information, globally uniformly ultimately bounded consensus tracking with arbitrarily small tracking errors can be achieved and when only output information is available, based on high-gain observers, semi-global result can be obtained. Numerical examples are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the controllers.     

带有智能领导者的网络系统分群投影一致性

针对多智能体系统在分群结构下投影一致性问题,引入了一种新的领导者称之为智能领导者。与传统的领导者相比,智能领导者可以获取和利用相邻跟随者位置信息,这些信息是否会用于调整智能领导者的控制算法由事件触发函数决定,从而很大程度上提高了系统的鲁棒性和容错性。设计了一个新颖的分布式控制协议;利用矩阵理论和Lyapunov稳定性理论,给出了系统在分群结构下实现投影一致性的充分条件;基于拉普拉斯变换性质,分析了当一些跟随者发生执行器故障时,系统能够保证跟踪误差有界;最后数值仿真验证了结果的有效性。     

Bounded consensus tracking for sampled‐data second‐order multi‐agent systems with fixed and Markovian switching topology

This paper studies the bounded consensus tracking problems of second‐order multi‐agent systems with fixed and Markovian switching topology in a sampling setting. It is assumed that all the agents can only obtain the approximative value of the leader's acceleration instead of the actual value. Moreover, only a portion of agents can have the access to the leader and obtain the leader's position and velocity directly. By virtue of matrix analysis and perturbation theory, we present necessary and sufficient conditions for boundedness of tracking error system and show the ultimate bound of tracking errors under fixed and Markovian switching topology, respectively. Finally, a simulation example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of the results. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Distributed node‐to‐node consensus of multi‐agent systems with stochastic sampling

This paper is concerned with the mean square node‐to‐node consensus tracking problem for multi‐agent systems with nonidentical nonlinear dynamics and directed topologies. The randomly occurred uncertainties in the sampling devices may result in stochastically varied sampling periods, which lead to the investigation of node‐to‐node consensus problem under stochastic sampling. By employing the input‐delay method and discontinuous Lyapunov functional approach, it arrives at some sufficient conditions under which the state of each follower can track that of the corresponding leader asymptotically in the mean square sense. Finally, some numerical simulations are provided to verify the effectiveness of the theoretical results. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stationary consensus of heterogeneous multi-agent systems with bounded communication delays

Consensus seeking is investigated for the discrete-time heterogeneous multi-agent systems composed of first-order agents and second-order agents, and two stationary consensus algorithms are constructed for the first-order agents and the second-order agents, respectively. Based on the properties of nonnegative matrices, sufficient consensus criteria are obtained for the agents with bounded communication delays under fixed topology and switching topologies, respectively. With some prerequisites on the coupling weights and the sampling interval, the asymptotic consensus achievement of the dynamic agents is independent of the communication delay, but strictly depends on the connectedness of the interconnection topology. Simulation results illustrate the correctness of the results.     

Adaptive output feedback consensus tracking for linear multi-agent systems with unknown dynamics

In this paper, the consensus tracking problem with unknown dynamics in the leader for the linear multi-agent systems is addressed. Based on the relative output information among the agents, decentralised adaptive consensus protocols with static coupling gains are designed to guarantee that the consensus tracking errors converge to a small neighbourhood around the origin and all the signals in the closed-loop dynamics are uniformly ultimately bounded. Moreover, the result is extended to the case with dynamic coupling gains which are independent of the eigenvalues of the Laplacian matrix. Both of the protocols with static and dynamic coupling gains are designed by using the relative outputs, which are more practical than the state-feedback ones. Finally, the theoretical results are verified through an example.     

Adaptive Leader-Follower Consensus Control of Multiple Flexible Manipulators With Actuator Failures and Parameter Uncertainties

In this paper,the leader-follower consensus problem for a multiple flexible manipulator network with actuator failures,parameter uncertainties,and unknown time-varying boundary disturbances is addressed.The purpose of this study is to develop distributed controllers utilizing local interactive protocols that not only suppress the vibration of each flexible manipulator but also achieve consensus on joint angle position between actual followers and the virtual leader.Following the accomplishment o...     

Consensus in nonlinear multi-agent systems with nonidentical nodes and sampled-data control

This paper primarily discusses the leader-following consensus problem in nonlinear second-order multi-agent systems with nonidentical nodes. Sampled-data-based protocols are applied to reach consensus. Both delay-free and input-delay protocols are proposed. Based on the Lyapunov functional approach and linear matrix inequality (LMI) method, sufficient criteria are obtained to guarantee quasi-consensus for nonlinear heterogeneous multi-agent systems. All the heterogeneous followers can track the leader within a bounded range. Furthermore, the error systems between the leader and each follower eventually converge to a convergence domain that depends on the heterogeneity among the dynamics of the agents. Additionally, leader-following consensus can also be reached as the heterogeneity vanishes. Finally, numerical simulations are provided to illustrate the theoretical results.     

Adaptive robust consensus tracking for nonlinear second‐order multi‐agent systems with heterogeneous uncertainties

This paper addresses the consensus tracking problem for a class of heterogeneous nonlinear second‐order multi‐agent systems with parametric uncertainties, unmodeled dynamics, and bounded external disturbances. By linearly parameterizing the control input of the leader, two distributed adaptive robust consensus tracking control protocols with dynamic and fixed coupling gains are constructed based on the relative information from neighboring agents. The global tracking errors are shown to be guaranteed to exponentially converge to a ball with a constant radius at a prescribed rate of convergence under external disturbances. Finally, a numerical example is provided to verify the theoretical results. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Consensus of nonlinear multiagent systems with mode-dependent delay via stochastic sampled data under Markovian switching topologies

In this article, we investigate the mean-square consensus problem of multiagent systems with one leader and multiple followers. In consideration of the uncertain disturbance from external environment or internal change of system, the interaction topology and time-varying delay switch randomly which are regulated by a time-homogeneous Markovian chain. The distributed control protocol is designed based on the stochastic sampling information from its neighbors and the leader. Using stochastic Lyapunov theory and linear matrix inequality (LMI) approach, the sufficient condition is concluded to guarantee the mean-square consensus. For the undirected topology case, a low-dimensional LMI-based consensus criterion is further derived based on the matrix diagonalization method. Finally, a numerical simulation is provided to demonstrate the reasonability of the theoretical results.     

Modified leader-following consensus of time-delay multi-agent systems via sampled control and smart leader

In this paper, the consensus problems of multiple agents with continuous-time single-integrator dynamics are studied, where each agent can obtain the position data of its neighboring agents at discrete-time points by using the periodic sampling technology and zero-order hold circuit. The smart leader is introduced, which can adjust the interaction strength between itself and the target point according to the state errors between itself and its neighboring followers. The modified leader-following consensus problem is defined as the leader-following consensus problem when the smart leader is adopted. Different leader-following consensus protocols are obtained for the multi-agent systems with or without sampling delays. The theoretical results, which are analysed with Lyapunov stability theory, can decrease the tracking error of the system, especially for the multi-agent systems with disturbance generated by actuator faults. Some simulation examples and real experiments are presented for illustration.     

Finite‐time consensus tracking for harmonic oscillators using both state feedback control and output feedback control

This paper investigates the distributed finite‐time consensus‐tracking problem for coupled harmonic oscillators. The objective is to guarantee a team of followers modeled by harmonic oscillators to track a dynamic virtual leader in finite time. Only a subset of followers can access the information of the virtual leader, and the interactions between followers are assumed to be local. We consider two cases: (i) The followers can obtain the relative states between their neighbors and their own; and (ii) Only relative outputs between neighboring agents are available. In the former case, a distributed consensus protocol is adopted to achieve the finite‐time consensus tracking. In the latter case, we propose a novel observer‐based dynamic protocol to guarantee the consensus tracking in finite time. Simulation examples are finally presented to verify the theoretical analysis. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

随机多智能体系统一致性增益的设计与分析

在固定和切换拓扑中通信网络含有加性随机噪声的情况下,针对随机多智能体系统一致性跟踪控制问题,本文采用自适应控制方法给出了一种新的一致性增益设计方法.在基于邻居智能体状态设计的分布式自适应控制协议中,每个跟随者的一致性增益自适应律仅仅依赖于跟踪误差,并且与通信网络全局信息无关.结合代数图论,随机理论工具和自适应控制得到两个结论:1)每个跟随者以均方意义下跟踪上领导者; 2)每个跟随者的一致性增益趋于一个理想估计值.通过两个仿真实例验证算法的有效性.