Finite-time consensus tracking for multi-agent systems with inherent uncertainties and disturbances

ABSTRACT

In this paper, finite-time consensus tracking is investigated via time-varying feedback for uncertain nonlinear multi-agent systems (NMASs). The presence of inherent uncertainties and disturbances in the NMASs highlights the main novelty : (1) The inherent uncertainties imply that more serious unknowns and time-variations are allowed in the nonlineartities and the control coefficients of the NMASs. (2) The inherent disturbances mean that the upper bound of the disturbances is unknown. To compensate the inherent uncertainties and disturbances, time-varying protocols are proposed by integrating time-varying technique and sliding mode method. Based on the proposed protocols, the finite-time leader-following consensus and finite-time containment are achieved under directed graph. Finally, the validation of the proposed protocols is verified by two examples.

KEYWORDS:

• Multi-agent systems
• inherent uncertainties and disturbances
• time-varying technique
• sliding mode method
• finite-time consensus tracking

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the editors and the anonymous referees for the time and effort spent in handing the article and their valuable comments which have greatly improved the quality and presentation of the article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 61325016, 61233014 and 61603217), by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Funded Project (2016M602142), and by the Research Award Fund for Outstanding Middle-aged and Young Scientists of Shandong Province of China (2016ZRE27123).