Sliding mode control for multi-agent systems under a time-varying topology

Abstract

This paper addresses the tracking problem of a class of multi-agent systems under uncertain communication environments which has been modelled by a finite number of constant Laplacian matrices together with their corresponding scheduling functions. Sliding mode control method is applied to solve this nonlinear tracking problem under a time-varying topology. The controller of each tracking agent has been designed by using only its own and neighbours’ information. Sufficient conditions for the existence of a sliding mode control tracking strategy have been provided by the solvability of linear matrix inequalities. At the end of this work, numerical simulations are employed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed sliding mode control tracking strategy.

Keywords:

• multi-agent systems
• tracking strategy
• time-varying topology
• sliding mode control

Additional information

Funding

This work was jointly supported by Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 61104086]; Scientific Research, Postgraduate Training Joint-Build Project [grant number 20120639002]; and the China Scholarship Council [grant number 201306030027] (L. J. Dong).

Notes on contributors

Lijing Dong

Lijing Dong was born in Hebei Province, China, in 1988. She received her B.S. degree from the School of Automation, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China. Then she took a successive postgraduate and doctoral program in Beijing Institute of Technology. Currently, she is working toward the Ph.D. degree. Her current research interests include nonlinear dynamics and distributed control of multiagent systems.

Senchun Chai

Senchun Chai was born in Beijing, China. He received his PhD degree and then held a Postdoc fellowship with School of Electronics, University of Glamorgan, UK, in 2007 and 2009, respectively. He joined the School of Automation in September 2010, where he is currently an associate Professor in control. He was a researcher at Cranfield University, UK, from 2009 to 2010, and was a visiting scholar at University of Illinois at Urbana – Champaign Urbana, USA, from January 2010 to May 2010. His current research interests include design of unmanned aerial vehicles(UAV), wireless sensor network control, networked control systems and multiagent control systems.

Baihai Zhang

Baihai Zhang was born in Shandong Province, China, in 1966. He received his Ph.D. degree from Harbin Institute of Technology, China, majoring fluid power transmission and control. Then he held a Postdoc fellowship with School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, China, from 1994 until 1997. He is a professor of School of Automation, Beijing Institute of Technology, from 2002 – present. He is the vice President of School of Automation from 2008 to 2013. He was a Senior Visiting Scholar at Michigan State University, USA, in 2001, and was a visiting scholar at University of the West of England, UK, in 2006. His current research interests include modeling and simulation of complex electromechanical systems, wireless sensor networks and multiagent control systems.

Sing Kiong Nguang

Sing Kiong Nguang received the B.E. (with first class honors) and the Ph.D. degree from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the University of Newcastle, Callaghan, Australia, in 1992 and 1995, respectively. Currently, he is a Chair Professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand. He has published over 250 refereed journal and conference papers on nonlinear control design, nonlinear control systems, nonlinear time-delay systems, nonlinear sampled-data systems, biomedical systems modeling, fuzzy modeling and control, biological systems modeling and control, and food and bioproduct processing. He has/had served on the editorial board of a number of international journals. He is the Chief-Editor of the International Journal of Sensors, Wireless Communications and Control.