Second-order consensus in multi-agent systems with nonlinear dynamics and intermittent control

Abstract

In this paper, the second-order leader-following consensus of coupled nonlinear agents with intermittent control is investigated. A subset of followers is pinned while it is assumed that the underlying digraph contains a directed spanning tree with the leader node as the root. By using multiple Lyapunov functions method and algebraic graph theory, it is proved that second-order consensus is guaranteed by choosing the control and rest durations appropriately in each time interval. This result provides high flexibility in control gain design, allowing multiple switching with different gains in arbitrarily-chosen time intervals. As a result, it not only encompasses many existing intermittent control schemes but can also manage practical situations, such as recovery from occasional control failures. Numerical simulations are also given to demonstrate our theoretical results.

Keywords:

• Second-order consensus
• multi-agent system
• leader-following
• intermittent control

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was partially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 71774070 and 71774071].

Notes on contributors

Zeyu Han

Zeyu Han received the B.Eng. degree in electronic information engineering from Changchun University of Science and Technology, Changchun, China, and the M.Sc. degree in electronic information engineering from the City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, in 2014 and 2016, respectively. He is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree at the Department of Electrical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong. His research interests include multi-agent systems, nonlinear dynamics, and complex networks.

Qiang Jia

Qiang Jia received the Ph.D. degree in electronic engineering from the City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, in 2013. He is currently an Associate Professor with the School of Mathematical Science, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, P. R. China. He has published over 30 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers. His research interests include dynamics and control, nonlinear systems, and complex networks.

Wallace K. S. Tang

Wallace K.S. Tang received the Ph.D. degree in electronic engineering from the City University of Hong Kong in 1996. He is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong. He has published over 100 journal papers, eight book chapters and three books, focusing on optimization, complex networks, nonlinear circuits and systems.