A Continuous Leader-following Consensus Control Strategy for a Class of Uncertain Multi-agent Systems

In this paper, we study the robust leader-following consensus problem for a class of multi-agent systems with unknown nonlinear dynamics and unknown but bounded disturbances. The control input of the leader agent is nonzero and not available to any follower agent. We first consider a class of high order chain integrator-type multi-agent systems. By employing the robust integral of the sign of the error technique, a continuous distributed control law is constructed using local information obtained from neighboring agents. Using Lyapunov analysis theory, we show that under a connected undirected information communication topology, the proposed protocol achieves semiglobal leader-following consensus. We then extend the approach to a class of more general uncertain multiagent systems. A numerical example is given to verify our proposed protocol.      

Prescribed performance distributed consensus control for nonlinear multi-agent systems with unknown dead-zone input

In this paper, the problem of prescribed performance distributed output consensus for higher-order non-affine nonlinear multi-agent systems with unknown dead-zone input is investigated. Fuzzy logical systems are utilised to identify the unknown nonlinearities. By introducing prescribed performance, the transient and steady performance of synchronisation errors are guaranteed. Based on Lyapunov stability theory and the dynamic surface control technique, a new distributed consensus algorithm for non-affine nonlinear multi-agent systems is proposed, which ensures cooperatively uniformly ultimately boundedness of all signals in the closed-loop systems and enables the output of each follower to synchronise with the leader within predefined bounded error. Finally, simulation examples are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.     

Prescribed performance global stable adaptive neural dynamic surface consensus tracking control of stochastic multi-agent systems with hysteresis inputs and nonlinear dynamics

This paper focuses on the leader-following consensus control problem of stochastic multi-agent systems with hysteresis inputs and nonlinear dynamics. A leader-following consensus scheme is presented for stochastic multi-agent systems directions under directed graphs, which can achieve predefined synchronisation error bounds. By mainly activating an auxiliary robust control component for pulling back the transient escaped from the neural active region, a multi-switching robust neuro adaptive controller in the neural approximation domain, which can achieve globally uniformly ultimately bounded tracking stability of multi-agent systems recently. A specific Nussbaum-type function is introduced to solve the problem of unknown control directions. Using a dynamic surface control technique, distributed consensus controllers are developed to guarantee that the outputs of all followers synchronise with that of the leader with prescribed performance. Based on Lyapunov stability theory, it is proved that all signals in closed-loop systems are uniformly ultimately bounded and all the follower agents can keep consensus with the leader. Two simulation examples are provided to illustrate the effectiveness and advantage of the proposed control scheme.     

Leader-following consensus for a class of second-order nonlinear multi-agent systems

This paper deals with the leader-following consensus problem for a class of multi-agent systems with nonlinear dynamics and directed communication topology. The control input of the leader agent is assumed to be unknown to all follower agents. A distributed adaptive nonlinear control law is constructed using the relative state information between neighboring agents, which achieves leader-following consensus for any directed communication graph that contains a spanning tree with the root node being the leader agent. Compared with previous results, the nonlinear functions are not required to satisfy the globally Lipschitz or Lipschitz-like condition and the adaptive consensus protocol is in a distributed fashion. A numerical example is given to verify our proposed protocol.     

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.     

Novel distributed robust adaptive consensus protocols for linear multi-agent systems with directed graphs and external disturbances

This paper addresses the distributed consensus protocol design problem for linear multi-agent systems with directed graphs and external unmatched disturbances. Novel distributed adaptive consensus protocols are proposed to achieve leader–follower consensus for any directed graph containing a directed spanning tree with the leader as the root node and leaderless consensus for strongly connected directed graphs. It is pointed out that the adaptive protocols involve undesirable parameter drift phenomenon when bounded external disturbances exist. By using the σ modification technique, distributed robust adaptive consensus protocols are designed to guarantee the ultimate boundedness of both the consensus error and the adaptive coupling weights in the presence of external disturbances. All the adaptive protocols in this paper are fully distributed, relying on only the agent dynamics and the relative states of neighbouring agents.     

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.     

Fully distributed robust consensus control of multi-agent systems with heterogeneous unknown fractional-order dynamics

This paper investigates the robust consensus control problem of heterogeneous unknown nonlinear fractional-order multi-agent systems (FOMASs) without leader and with multiple leaders of bounded inputs. More specifically, FOMASs with nonidentical unknown coupling nonlinearities and external disturbances are considered in this paper, which takes the first-order MASs as its special case. Based on the σ-modification adaptive control technique, some class of discontinuous robust adaptive control protocols are proposed to solve the leaderless consensus problem and containment consensus problem, respectively. By means of the set-valued maps theory and by artfully choosing Lyapunov function, it is shown that the proposed consensus protocols are user friendly in that they are capable of compensating uncertain coupling nonlinearities, rejecting disturbances, rendering smaller control gains and thus requiring smaller amplitude on the control input while preserving global consensus convergence. All of the proposed robust adaptive consensus protocols are independent of any global and unknown information and thus are fully distributed. Some numerical simulations are provided to validate the correctness of the obtained results.     

基于观测器的多智能体系统一致性控制与故障检测

针对一类受到未知干扰的非线性多智能体系统,提出了一种鲁棒一致性控制与故障检测算法.首先,针对每个智能体系统设计了一个未知输入非线性观测器.然后,基于观测器的状态估计信息,设计了鲁棒一致性控制协议.控制协议保证了给定的干扰抑制性能指标.接着,考虑智能体出现故障的情形,采用自适应阈值法,提出了一种分布式故障检测算法.最后,以多个直流电机驱动的单摆系统为例进行了仿真实验,仿真结果表明了一致性控制与故障检测算法的有效性.     

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.     

Global consensus of second-order unknown multi-agent systems: A distributed fuzzy iterative learning scheme

This article focuses on global fuzzy consensus control of unknown second-order nonlinear multi-agent systems based on adaptive iterative learning scheme. In order to achieve global consensus, a replacement idea is introduced, where fuzzy systems are used as feedforward compensators to model unknown nonlinear dynamics relying on tracking signals. Considering that the network communication is distributed, a kind of hybrid control protocol is designed to avoid the complete dependence on the tracking signals. In addition, considering the complexity of the external environment, this article extends the above distributed protocol to the case of unknown control directions to study global consensus. Finally, the feasibility of the proposed protocols is verified by Matlab numerical simulations.     

Distributed Adaptive Output Consensus of Unknown Heterogeneous Non-Minimum Phase Multi-Agent Systems

This article addresses the leader-following output consensus problem of heterogeneous linear multi-agent systems with unknown agent parameters under directed graphs.The dynamics of followers are allowed to be non-minimum phase with unknown arbitrary individual relative degrees.This is contrary to many existing works on distributed adaptive control schemes where agent dynamics are required to be minimum phase and often of the same relative degree.A distributed adaptive pole placement control sche...     

Observer-based prescribed-time consensus control for heterogeneous multi-agent systems under directed graphs

This work studies the prescribed-time robust consensus tracking problem of heterogeneous multi-agent systems over directed graphs. Aiming at multi-agent systems with a static leader and only matched disturbances, a distributed observer-based consensus algorithm is developed, to ensure that the tracking errors converge to zero accurately in prescribed time. For the case of multi-agent systems with a dynamic leader and mismatched/matched disturbances, an adaptive strategy based on a distributed observer and a disturbance observer is designed by the dynamic damping reciprocal technology. Such strategy can avoid the numerical singularity, adapt to the situation that the upper bounds of the disturbances are unknown, and assure that the tracking errors converge to an adjustable neighborhood of zero within prescribed time. Finally, simulations are given to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control strategies.     

Consensus in multi-agent systems with nonlinear uncertainties under a fixed undirected graph

This paper presents consensus algorithms by integrating cooperative control and adaptive control laws for multi-agent systems with unknown nonlinear uncertainties. An ideal multi-agent system without uncertainties is introduced first. The cooperative control law, based on an artificial potential function, is designed to make the ideal multi-agent system achieve consensus under a fixed and connected undirected graph. The presence of uncertainties will degenerate the performance, or even destabilize the whole multi-agent system. The L ₁ adaptive control law is therefore introduced to handle unknown nonlinear uncertainties. Two different consensus cases are considered: 1) normal consensus—where all agents reach an agreement on an initially undetermined position and velocity, and 2) consensus with a virtual leader—where all agents’ states converge to the virtual leader’s states. Under a fixed and connected undirected graph, the presented consensus algorithms enable the real multi-agent system to stay close to the ideal multi-agent system which achieves consensus with or without a virtual leader. Simulation results of 2-D consensus with nonlinear uncertainties are provided to demonstrate the presented algorithms.     

有向图中网络Euler-Lagrange系统的自适应协调跟踪

基于一致性理论, 在有向图中研究网络 Euler-Lagrange 系统的协调跟踪控制. 所有跟随智能体的动力学模型均为 Euler-Lagrange 方程. 在仅有部分跟随智能体能获取领航智能体信息的情形下, 同时考虑系统模型的参数不确定性, 设计分布式自适应控制律实现所有跟随智能体对领航智能体的跟踪. 针对领航智能体的运动状态, 考虑以下两种情形: 1) 领航智能体为固定点; 2) 领航智能体为动态点. 对第一种情形, 设计的控制律使得所有跟随智能体渐近交会于固定点; 对第二种情形, 首先对每个跟随智能体设计分布式连续估计器, 然后提出了分布式自适应控制律. 当每个跟随智能体均能获取领航智能体的加速度信息时, 设计的控制律能实现对领航智能体的渐近跟踪, 当跟随智能体不能获取领航智能体的加速度信息时, 跟踪误差是有界的. 最后通过仿真分析验证设计的控制算法是合理有效的.     

多智能体系统自适应跟踪控制

基于带有非线性动态的二阶多智能体系统,研究了在有动态领导者条件下的跟踪一致性问题。假设跟随者只能获取邻居智能体的相对状态信息,只有一部分跟随者可以获得领导者的位置和速度信息,领导者的控制输入非零且不被任何一个跟随者可知。在通信拓扑为无向连通图的条件下,为了避免全局信息的不确定性,设计了分布式自适应控制协议。将系统的一致性问题转化为误差系统的一致性问题,通过Lyapunov稳定性理论和矩阵理论分析得到了该协议使系统达到一致的充分条件。最后用仿真例子证明了设计方法的有效性。     

Practical time-varying formation tracking for high-order nonlinear multi-agent systems based on the distributed extended state observer

Practical time-varying formation tracking analysis and design problems for high-order nonlinear multi-agent systems are investigated, where the time-varying formation tracking error is controlled within an arbitrarily small bound. The states of followers form a predefined time-varying formation while tracking the state of the leader with unknown control input. Besides, the dynamics of each agent has heterogeneous nonlinearity and disturbance. First, a distributed extended state observer is constructed to estimate the follower's nonlinearity and disturbance, and the leader's unknown control input simultaneously. A protocol based on the distributed extended state observer is proposed. Second, sufficient conditions for the multi-agent systems to achieve the practical time-varying formation tracking under the protocol are presented by using the Lyapunov stability theory. Third, an approach is derived to design the proposed protocol by solving a linear matrix inequality. Finally, numerical simulation results are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results.     

Leader-following fixed-time output feedback consensus for second-order multi-agent systems with input saturation

This paper investigates the leader-following fixed-time output feedback consensus problem for second-order multi-agent systems with input saturation. By combing fixed-time control technique and bi-limit homogeneous systems theory, a class of bounded fixed-time consensus protocols are developed for leader-following multi-agent systems. The protocol design is divided into two parts. First, when all the state information of the followers are measurable, a state feedback consensus protocol is designed to achieve fixed-time consensus. Then, when the velocity information is unmeasurable, an observer-based fixed-time consensus protocol is proposed. With the help of Lyapunov stability theorem and the property of a homogeneous function, it is theoretically shown that the states of all followers can track that of the leader in fixed-time in the presence of input saturation. Finally, numerical simulation is carried out to illustrate the effectiveness of theoretical results.     

单向通信拓扑领航者动态未知线性多智能体系统的协同迭代学习控制（英文）

This paper considers the cooperative tracking of linear multi-agent systems with a dynamic leader whose input information is unavailable to any followers. Cooperative iterative learning controllers, based on the relative state information of neighboring agents, are proposed for tracking the dynamic leader over directed communication topologies. Stability and convergence of the proposed controllers are established using Lyapunov-Krasovskii functionals. Furthermore, this result is extended to the output feedback case where only the output information of each agent can be obtained. A local observer is constructed to estimate the unmeasurable states. Then, cooperative iterative learning controllers, based on the relative observed states of neighboring agents,are devised. For both cases, it is shown that the multi-agent systems whose communication topologies contain a spanning tree can reach synchronization with the dynamic leader, and meanwhile identify the unknown input of the dynamic leader using distributed iterative learning laws. An illustrative example is provided to verify the proposed control schemes.     

Consensus control of leader-following nonlinear multi-agent systems with distributed adaptive iterative learning control

This paper addresses the consensus problem of leader-following nonlinear multi-agent systems with iterative learning control. The assumption that only a small portion of following agents can receive the information of leader agent is considered. To approximate the nonlinear dynamics of a given system, the radial basis function neural network is introduced. Then, a distributed adaptive iterative learning control protocol with an auxiliary control term is designed, where the estimates of nonlinear dynamics are applied in control protocol design and three adaptive laws are presented. Furthermore, the convergence of the proposed control protocol is analysed by Lyapunov stability theory. Finally, a simulation example is provided to demonstrate the validity of theoretical results.