Consensus of multiple double‐integrator agents with intermittent measurement

This paper is concerned with consensus problems in directed networks of multiple agents with double‐integrator dynamics. It is assumed that each agent adjusts its state based on the information of its states relative to its neighbors at discrete times and the interaction topology among agents is time‐varying. Both synchronous and asynchronous cases are considered. The synchrony means that each agent's update times, at which it obtains new control signals, are the same as the others', and the asynchrony implies that each agent's update times are independent of the others'. In the synchronous case, the consensus problem is proved to be equivalent to the asymptotic stability problem of a discrete‐time switched system. By analyzing the asymptotic stability of the discrete‐time switched system, it is shown that consensus can be reached if the update time intervals are small sufficiently, and an allowable upper bound of update time intervals is obtained. In the asynchronous case, the consensus problem is transformed into the global asymptotic stability problem of a continuous‐time switched system with time‐varying delays. In virtue of a linear matrix inequality method, it is proved that consensus can be reached if the delays are small enough, and an admissible upper bound of delays is derived. Simulations are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.