Distributed consensus and tracking control of second‐order time‐varying nonlinear multi‐agent systems

In this paper, the distributed consensus and tracking protocols are developed for the second‐order time‐varying nonlinear multi‐agent systems under general directed graph. Firstly, the consensus and tracking problems can be converted into a conventional stabilization control problem. Then a state transformation is employed to deal with the time‐varying nonlinearities. By choosing an appropriate time‐varying parameter and coupling strengths, exponential consensus and tracking of second‐order nonlinear multi‐agent systems can be achieved. Finally, a simulation is given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed consensus and tracking protocols. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Wideband turnstile junction coaxial waveguide orthomode transducer

A wideband turnstile junction coaxial waveguide orthomode transducer (OMT) is presented in this paper, featuring coaxial waveguide input and orthogonal rectangular waveguide outputs. It primarily comprises of a turnstile junction, bending stepped impedance transformers and power combiners. The symmetrical geometry helps achieve wide operating bandwidth and balanced output phases. The OMT covers the whole Ku band from 12 to 18 GHz, which aims at wideband dual‐polarized signal combination and separation within coaxial‐type multi‐band antenna systems. An experimental prototype is manufactured and the measured results confirm that the reflection coefficient is lower than ?15 dB within the whole band, and the port isolation is better than 35 dB. Turnstile junction coaxial waveguide OMTs can be adopted widely in circular/coaxial waveguide hybrid feeding networks for multi‐band satellite communication/remote sensing antenna systems.     

Event‐Triggered Control for Couple‐Group Multi‐Agent Systems with Logarithmic Quantizers and Communication Delays

This paper mainly investigates the event‐triggered control for couple‐group multi‐agent systems with communication delay. Logarithmic quantization is considered in the communication channels. Event‐triggered control laws are adopted to reduce the frequency of individual actuation updating for discrete‐time agent dynamics. The proposed protocol is efficient as long as the quantization levels are dense enough, i.e. the density of quantization levels goes to infinity is a sufficient condition for the asymptotic consensus of the multi‐agent systems. It turns out that the bounded consensus depends on not only the density of quantization levels, but also the updating strategy of events. Finally, a simulation example is given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods.     

三自由度直升机多模型LQR控制器设计

通过对三自由度直升机模型实验系统的总体分析,引入了多模型切换思想,建立了多模型LQR控制器。针对多模型LQR控制器将数学模型以高度角和俯仰角两个角度为变量建立多模型集合,运用Matlab搭建仿真对控制器进行仿真实验,并通过直升机高度角、俯仰角和旋转角的跟踪准确性、快速性以及超调量大小等控制指标,直接地度量控制器控制效果的好坏,将控制效果最优的多模型LQR控制器应用于直升机实物模型之上,运用Matlab中的实时工作空间（RTW）和Quanser公司专用控制软件Wincon实现对直升机实物的实时控制,控制效果良好。     

基于修正变分法开孔板和加强板结构的自由振动分析

为研究船舶开孔板和加强板结构的振动特性,用1阶剪切变形板理论描述各向同性板的位移场,并采用修正变分原理和区域分解方法建立板的离散动力学模型.每一块子域板的位移和转角分量通过第一类切比雪夫正交多项式展开.针对加强板模型,将该方法获得的结果与已经发表的文献和有限元商用软件计算结果进行对比,验证该方法的收敛性和正确性.基于修正变分法探讨多种开孔和加强板模型的自由振动特性,充分说明该数理模型和半解析方法是一种适合处理复杂板结构问题的数值工具.     

Consensus and disturbance attenuation in multi‐agent chains with nonlinear control and time delays

In this paper, we investigate consensus and disturbance attenuation in a chain of mobile agents, which include non‐autonomous agents, semi‐autonomous agents and autonomous agents. In particular, the nonlinear dynamics of non‐autonomous agents is given and cannot be designed, while the dynamics of semi‐autonomous and autonomous agents can be partially and fully designed, respectively. To improve the robustness of multi‐agent chains against disturbances, we propose a nonlinear control framework for semi‐autonomous and autonomous agents such that they mimic the behavior of non‐autonomous agents for compatibility while also exploiting long‐range connections with distant agents. This framework ensures the existence of a unique consensus equilibrium, which is independent of the network size, connectivity topologies, control gains and information delays. Robustness of multi‐agent chains against disturbances is investigated by evaluating the frequency response at the nonlinear level. For infinitely long multi‐agent chains with recurrent patterns, we also derive a condition that ensures the disturbance attenuation but only requires the analysis of the linearized model. A case study is conducted for a connected vehicle system where numerical simulations are used to validate the analytical results. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Event‐triggered distributed constrained consensus

We consider a distributed consensus problem for continuous‐time multi‐agent systems with set constraints on the final states. To save communication costs, an event‐triggered communication‐based protocol is proposed. By comparing its own instantaneous state with the one previously broadcasted to neighbours, each agent determines the next communication time. Based on this event‐triggered communication, each agent is not required to continuously monitor its neighbours' state and the communication only happens at discrete time instants. We show that, under some mild conditions, the constrained consensus of the multi‐agent system with the proposed protocol can be achieved with an exponential convergence rate. A lower bound of the transmission time intervals is provided that can be adjusted by choosing different values of parameters. Numerical examples illustrate the results. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Flocking of multi‐agent nonholonomic systems with unknown leader dynamics and relative measurements

In this paper, we consider the distributed flocking control problem of multi‐agent nonholonomic systems with a virtual leader whose dynamics is unknown; state information is time varying and not available to all agents under both fixed and switching topologies. On the basis of the relative velocity and orientation information of neighboring agents, two distributed discontinuous control protocols are designed for fixed and switching topologies, respectively. By using tools from algebraic graph theory and nonsmooth analysis, the proposed distributed discontinuous control protocols guarantee that the velocities and orientations of the agents exponentially converge to the velocity and orientation of the virtual leader, respectively, while ensuring collision avoidance of the whole group, if the interaction graph among agents is undirected and the virtual leader with bounded time‐varying velocity has directed paths to other agents. Finally, numerical simulations are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Coordinated control with multiple dynamic leaders for uncertain Lagrangian systems via self‐tuning adaptive distributed observer

This paper studies coordinated control of multiple Lagrangian systems with parametric uncertainties subject to external disturbances by proposing a fully distributed continuous control law based on the improved self‐tuning adaptive observer inspired by non‐identifier‐based high‐gain adaptive control technique. Under this distributed continuous control law, a group of Lagrangian systems are driven to the convex hull spanned by multiple heterogenous dynamic leaders, which can be any combination of step signals of arbitrary unknown magnitudes, ramp signals of arbitrary unknown slopes, and sinusoidal signals of arbitrary unknown amplitudes, initial phases, and any unknown frequencies. It is also worth to mention that this control law we propose, depending neither on any information of leader systems for uninformed followers, nor on external disturbances, even independent of neighbors' velocity, can achieve asymptotic tracking of multiple leaders without any additional condition instead of ensuring the ultimate boundedness of the containment error as in the literature. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Applying intelligent agents and semantic web services in eGovernment environments

The increasing volume of eGovernment‐related services is demanding new approaches for service integration and interoperability in this domain. Semantic web (SW) technologies and applications can leverage the potential of eGovernment service integration and discovery, thus tackling the problems of semantic heterogeneity characterizing eGovernment information sources and the different levels of interoperability. eGovernment services will therefore be semantically described in the foreseeable future. In an environment with semantically annotated services, software agents are essential as the entities responsible for exploiting the semantic content in order to automate some tasks, and so enhance the user's experience. In this paper, we present a framework that provides a seamless integration of semantic web services and intelligent agents technologies by making use of ontologies to facilitate their interoperation. The proposed framework can assist in the development of powerful and flexible distributed systems in complex, dynamic, heterogeneous, unpredictable and open environments. Our approach is backed up by a proof‐of‐concept implementation, where the breakthrough of integrating disparate eGovernment services has been tested.