Cooperative output regulation for networked multi-agent systems based on the self-tuning adaptive distributed observer

ABSTRACTIn this paper, we first propose a self-tuning distributed observer for a multi-agent system, which is capable of providing the estimation of the leader's signal to various followers without assuming all the followers know the system matrix of the leader. We then further develop a novel adaptive distributed control law to solve the cooperative output regulation problem for linear heterogeneous multi-agent systems. This control law offers two advantages in that it makes less use of the information of the network as well as the information of the leader and external disturbances, and it avoids calculating the observer gain.

This paper investigates the cooperative output regulation problem for heterogeneous linear multiagent systems under fixed communication graphs via event-triggered control. A fully distributed event-triggered dynamic output feedback control law is proposed based on the feedforward design approach. At the same time, a fully distributed dynamic event-triggering mechanism is designed so that each agent can determine when to broadcast its information to its neighbors. Compared with existing related results, both the control law and the event-triggering mechanism in this paper are independent of any global information. It is shown that with the proposed dynamic event-triggered control strategy, the cooperative output regulation problem can be solved in a fully distributed manner by intermittent communication. Moreover, Zeno behavior can be strictly ruled out for each agent. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed dynamic event-triggered control strategy is validated by a numerical example.

In this paper, we consider the cooperative output regulation problem of heterogeneous linear multi-agent systems (MASs) by event-triggered control. We first develop an event-triggering mechanism for leader-following consensus of homogeneous MASs. Then by proposing an internal reference model for each agent, a novel distributed event-triggered control scheme is developed to solve the cooperative output regulation problem of heterogeneous MASs. Furthermore, a novel self-triggered control scheme is also proposed, such that continuous monitoring of measurement errors can be avoided. The feasibility of both proposed control schemes is studied by excluding Zeno behavior for each agent. An example is finally provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the control schemes.

In this paper, we consider the cooperative output regulation problem for heterogeneous linear multi-agent systems in the presence of communication constraints. Under standard assumptions on the agents dynamics, we propose a distributed control algorithm relying on intermittent and asynchronous discrete-time information exchange that can be subject to unknown time-varying delays and information losses. We show that cooperative output regulation can be reached for arbitrary characteristics of the discrete-time communication process and under mild assumptions on the interconnection topology between agents. A numerical example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of our theoretical results.

Fully distributed dynamic event-triggered reliable COR of nonlinear MASs with communication link faults and actuator faults for directed graphs

The discrete distributed observer is developed recently to solve the cooperative output regulation problem. The validation of the existing discrete distributed observer depends on the establishment of the communication network. In some practical applications, only the sensor network can be established among all agents. To handle such cases, we propose a sensory feedback-based discrete distributed observer, which depends on the relative output of neighboring agents. In contrast to existing results, the design of the discrete distributed observer and cooperative output regulation analysis should be conducted simultaneously. Resorting to the small-gain theorem, we develop a small-gain condition-based approach and a low-gain-based approach, respectively. By these two approaches, we demonstrate that the discrete distributed observer holds and the cooperative output regulation problem of heterogeneous discrete-time linear multiagent systems can be solved.

Event-triggered robust cooperative output regulation for a class of linear multi-agent systems with an unknown exosystem

SummaryIn this paper, a bipartite consensus problem is considered for a high‐order multiagent system with cooperative‐competitive interactions and unknown time‐varying disturbances. A signed graph is used to describe the interaction network associated with the multiagent system. The unknown disturbances are expressed by linearly parameterized models, and distributed adaptive laws are designed to estimate the unknown parameters in the models. For the case that there is no exogenous reference system, a fully distributed adaptive control law is proposed to ensure that all the agents reach a bipartite consensus. For the other case that there exists an exogenous reference system, another fully distributed adaptive control law is also developed to ensure that all the agents achieve bipartite consensus on the state of the exogenous system. The stability of the closed‐loop multiagent systems with the 2 proposed adaptive control laws are analyzed under an assumption that the interaction network is structurally balanced. Moreover, the convergence of the parameter estimation errors is guaranteed with a persistent excitation condition. Finally, simulation examples are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed adaptive bipartite consensus control laws for the concerned multiagent system.

This paper studies the cooperative output regulation problem for heterogeneous multi‐agent systems (MASs) subject to false data injection (FDI) attacks, which means the malicious cyber‐attackers may inject false data into the communication topology randomly. To ensure that each follower agent can track the leader agent accurately, we construct both an observer and a control law for each follower agent. Since the FDI attacks may exist in the communication network, a filter with an adaptive compensator, which can estimate attack signals dynamically, is equipped for each observer, such that the filter can neutralize attacks when malicious attackers launch attacks. Therefore, the cooperative output regulation can be achieved under the control law based on the observer no matter whether there exist attacks or not. Finally, a numerical example is provided for validating the theoretical results.

The cooperative output regulation of a linear multi-agent system can be viewed as a generalization of the leader-following consensus problem and was studied recently for the case where the system uncertain parameters vary in a sufficiently small neighborhood of their nominal value. This case was handled by the internal model design which converts the problem into a simultaneous eigenvalue placement problem of an augmented multi-agent system. In this paper, we further consider the cooperative robust output regulation problem for a class of minimum phase linear multi-agent systems in the sense that the controller allows the system uncertain parameters to vary in an arbitrarily prescribed compact subset. For this purpose, we introduce a new type of internal model that allows the cooperative robust output regulation problem of the given plant to be converted into a robust stabilization problem of an augmented multi-agent system. We then solve our problem by combining a simultaneous high-gain state feedback control technique and a distributed high-gain observer technique. A special case of our result leads to the solution of the leader-following robust consensus problem for a class of uncertain multi-agent systems. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In this paper, a new distributed model reference adaptive control (MRAC) design framework is proposed for containment control of heterogeneous uncertain multi-agent systems (MAS). Both groups of leaders and followers are considered to have general linear dynamics with the leaders subject to bounded external inputs and the followers subject to uncertain system dynamics. A novel distributed adaptive control protocol is developed under this new framework, which incorporates robust adaptive control with nonlinear compensator techniques to cope with unmeasurable bounded leaders' inputs and uncertain agent dynamics. Convergence of the containment control errors to an arbitrarily adjustable neighborhood of the origin is guaranteed based on the Lyapunov method. The proposed MRAC framework provides a promising alternative solution over the prevailing cooperative output regulation framework for heterogeneous linear MAS containment control. It enables us to handle more general system settings under more stringent control environments with limited accessibility of leaders' information and uncertain follower dynamics.

While several robust cooperative output regulation approaches for heterogeneous systems have been proposed (with fixed-gain distributed controllers), the design of adaptive-gain distributed controllers becomes relevant in dealing with larger uncertainty than robust approaches. This letter addresses the adaptive cooperative output regulation problem for heterogeneous systems with unknown linear dynamics, where possibly large system uncertainty would make fixed-gain robust approaches not applicable. A passification method is adopted to design adaptive-gain distributed controllers solving the problem. The proposed method includes two steps: in the first step, a distributed observer of the exogenous signal is designed for those systems that cannot access the exosystem, and a reference model is designed whose output can converge to the exogenous signal; in the second step, command generator tracking is achieved via adaptive laws that make the output of each system converge to the output of the reference model, and thus to the exogenous signal. Stability analysis is provided via a Lyapunov approach, and a numerical example illustrates the effectiveness of the approach.

This paper investigates the cooperative output regulation problem for heterogeneous multiagent systems (MASs) under switching topology. Two novel distributed event-triggered adaptive control strategies based on state feedback and output feedback are developed, which can avoid using the minimal nonzero eigenvalue of Laplacian matrix associated with global system topologies. It is shown that under the proposed control protocols, MASs could achieve asymptotic tracking and disturbance rejection, and meanwhile, the amount of transmission data and communication cost among agents can be reduced. Then, the leader-following consensus problem of MASs is given as an application of our main results. Finally, an example is presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control schemes.

Cooperative output regulation problem for linear time-delay multi-agent systems under switching network

In this paper, we study the cooperative output regulation problem for a class of second-order linear uncertain multi-agent systems with unknown exosystem. We first present a distributed canonical internal model to convert the cooperative output regulation problem for the original plant into a stabilization problem for its augmented system. Then we solve the problem via a distributed state feedback controller by combining the distributed internal model approach and the adaptive control technique. Our design is illustrated by an example.