Consensus for linear multi-agent system with intermittent information transmissions using the time-scale theory

Abstract

This paper investigates the consensus problem for linear multi-agent system with fixed communication topology in the presence of intermittent communication using the time-scale theory. Since each agent can only obtain relative local information intermittently, the proposed consensus algorithm is based on a discontinuous local interaction rule. The interaction among agents happens at a disjoint set of continuous-time intervals. The closed-loop multi-agent system can be represented using mixed linear continuous-time and linear discrete-time models due to intermittent information transmissions. The time-scale theory provides a powerful tool to combine continuous-time and discrete-time cases and study the consensus protocol under a unified framework. Using this theory, some conditions are derived to achieve exponential consensus under intermittent information transmissions. Simulations are performed to validate the theoretical results.

Keywords:

• time scale
• multi-agent system
• consensus
• intermittent information
• switched linear system
• directed graph

Acknowledgements

This work has been supported by International Campus on Safety and Intermodality in Transportation, the European Community, the Délégation Régionale à la Recherche et à la Technologie, the Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche, the Région Nord Pasg de Calais and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique under the grant ARCIR Sucré and FUI Equitas.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.