Cooperative robust consensus for linear heterogeneous multi-agent systems under switching topologies

This paper studies the consensus problem of heterogeneous linear multiagent systems with arbitrarily large constant, time-varying, or distributed communication delays. Novel distributed dynamic controllers are proposed for such multiagent systems with fixed and switching directed communication topologies, respectively. It is shown that the controlled heterogeneous linear multiagent system can reach consensus for arbitrarily large constant, time-varying, and distributed communication delays under some sufficient conditions. Simulation examples are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controllers.

ABSTRACTIn this paper, we consider bipartite tracking of linear multi-agent systems with a leader. Both homogeneous and heterogeneous systems are investigated. The communication between agents is modelled by a directed signed graph, where the negative (positive) edges represent the antagonistic (cooperative) interactions among agents. Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR)-based approach is used to derive the distributed protocol for the follower agent to achieve bipartite tracking of the leader. It is shown that solving the bipartite tracking problem over the structurally balanced signed graph is equivalent to solving the cooperative tracking problem over a corresponding graph with nonnegative edge weights. This bridges the gap between the newly raised bipartite tracking problem and the well-studied cooperative tracking problem. Three novel control protocols are proposed for both cooperative and bipartite output tracking of heterogeneous linear multi-agent systems. Numerical examples are given to show the effectiveness of our control protocols.

This paper considers bipartite consensus of linear multi-agent systems over signed directed graphs, where both collaboration and competition coexist. The agent dynamics are distinct and can all have different dimensions. The communication graph can be time-varying and need not to be connected at each time. A distributed control law is proposed which enables the group to split into two disjoint subgroups, and the outputs of all agents within each subgroup achieve consensus, but the two subgroups move oppositely towards each other. Rigorous analysis and a simulation example are provided.

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.

For network graphs, numerous graph features are intimately linked to eigenvalues of the Laplacian matrix, such as connectivity and diameter. Thus, it is very important to solve eigenvalues of the Laplacian matrix for graphs. Similarly, for higher-order networks, eigenvalues of combinatorial Laplacian matrices are also important for invariants of graphs. However, for large-scale networks, it is difficult to calculate eigenvalues of the Laplacian matrix directly because it is either very difficult to obtain the whole network structure or requires a lot of computing resources. Therefore, this article makes the following contributions. Firstly, this paper proposes a random walk approach for estimating the bounds of the greatest eigenvalues of Laplacian matrices for large-scale networks. Considering the relationship between the spectral moments of the adjacency matrix and the closed paths in the network, we utilize the relationship between the adjacency matrix and the Laplacian matrix to establish the relationship between the Laplacian matrix and the closed paths. Then, we employ equiprobable random walks to sample the large graph to obtain the small graph. Through algebraic topology knowledge, we obtain the bounds of the largest eigenvalue of the Laplacian matrix of the large graph by using Laplacian spectral moments of the small graph. Secondly, for high-order networks, this paper proposes a method based on random walks and graph transformations. The graph transformation we propose mainly converts graphs with second-order simplices into ordinary weighted graphs, thereby transforming the problem of solving the spectral moments of the second-order combined Laplacian matrix into solving the spectral moments of the adjacency matrix. Then, we use the aforementioned random walk method to solve bounds of the greatest eigenvalue of the second-order combinatorial Laplacian matrix. Finally, by comparing the proposed method with existing algorithms in synthetic and real networks, its accuracy and superiority are demonstrated.

An Internal Model Principle for Consensus in Heterogeneous Linear Multi-Agent Systems

This paper studies the consensus of first-order discrete-time multi-agent systems with fixed and switching topology, and there exists cooperative and antagonistic interactions among agents. A signed graph is used to model the interactions among agents, and some sufficient conditions for consensus are obtained by analyzing the eigenvalues of a Laplacian matrix in the case of fixed topology. The results indicate that having a spanning tree is only a necessary condition for the consensus of multi-agent systems with signed graphs, which is also affected by edge weights. Consensus is further discussed in the case of switching topology, and the results reveal that consensus can be reached if the controller gain and the union graphs among some consecutive time intervals satisfy some conditions. Finally, several simulation examples further confirm the theoretical results.

Over the last couple of decades the demand for high precision and enhanced performance of physical systems has been steadily increasing. This demand often results in miniaturization and complex design, thus increasing the need for complex nonlinear control methods. Some of the state of the art nonlinear methods are stymied by the requirement of full state information, model and parameter uncertainties, mathematical complexity, etc. For many scenarios it is nearly impossible to consider all the uncertainties during the design of a feedback controller. Additionally, while designing a modelbased nonlinear control there is no standard mechanism to incorporate performance measures. Some of the mentioned issues can be addressed by using online learning. Animals and humans have the ability to share, explore, act or respond, memorize the outcome and repeat the task to achieve a better outcome when they encounter the same or a similar scenario. This is called learning from interaction. One instance of this approach is reinforcement learning (RL). However, RL methods are hindered by the curse of dimensionality, non-interpretability and non-monotonic convergence of the learning algorithms. This can be attributed to the intrinsic characteristics of RL, as it is a modelfree approach and hence no standard mechanism exists to incorporate a priori model information. In this thesis, learning methods are proposed which explicitly use the available system knowledge. This can be seen as a new class of approaches that bridge model-based and model-free methods. These methods can address some of the hurdles mentioned earlier. For example, i) a prior system information can speed up the learning, ii) new control objectives can be achieved which otherwise would be extremely difficult to attain using only model-based methods, iii) physical meaning can be attributed to the learned controller. The developed approach is as follows: themodel of the given physical system is represented in the port-Hamiltonian (PH) form. For the system dynamics in PH form a passivity-based control (PBC) law is formulated, which often requires the solution to a set of partial differential equations (PDEs). Instead of finding an analytical solution, the PBC control law is parameterized using an unknown parameter vector. Then, by using a variation of the standard actor-critic learning algorithm, the unknown parameters can be learned online. Using the principles of stochastic approximation theory, a proof of convergence for the developed method is shown. The proposedmethods are evaluated for the stabilization and regulation ofmechanical and electro-mechanical systems. The simulation and experimental results show comparable learning curves. In the final part of the thesis a novel integral reinforcement learning approach is developed to solve for the optimal output tracking control problem for a set of linear heterogeneous multi-agent systems. Unlike existing methods, this approach does not need to solve either the output regulator equation or requires a p-copy of the leader’s dynamics in the agent’s control law. A detailed numerical evaluation has been conducted to show the feasibility of the developed method.

Multi-agent systems (MASs) are ubiquitous in natural and artificial systems. This paper aims to establish the finite-time adaptive consensus criterion for a class of MASs with nonlinear dynamics. Traditionally, the finite-time consensus criterion is often established based on the prior information on Lipschitz constants and the eigenvalues of Laplacian matrix. However, it is difficult to acquire the above prior information for most real-world engineering systems. To overcome the above difficulty, this paper develops the finite-time consensus criteria for a class of MASs with nonlinear dynamics via adaptive technique. In detail, we design the finite-time distributed node-based and edge-based adaptive consensus protocols for a class of MASs with fixed and switching topologies. Numerical simulations are also given to validate the proposed finite-time adaptive consensus criterion.

In this paper, the leader-following consensus problem of higher order multi-agent systems is considered. The dynamics of each agent is given in general form of linear system and the communication topology among the agents is assumed to be undirected and switching. To track the active leader, a distributed observer-based consensus protocol is proposed to each following agent, which is based on the relative outputs of neighboring agents. A sufficient consensus condition is established by used parameter-dependent lyapunov function method under switching communication topologies. Two gain matrices used in the proposed protocol can be constructed by solving the Riccati equation and Sylvester equation respectively. Finally, a simulation example is given to illustrate our obtained result.

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.

Consensus for heterogeneous networked multi-agent systems with switching topology and time-varying delays

This article investigates the leader-following output consensus problem of heterogeneous linear multiagent systems, where the nonidentical followers are subject to norm bounded parameter uncertainties. Two novel distributed event-triggered consensus strategies based on state feedback and output feedback, respectively, are proposed to solve the leader-following output consensus problem. A dynamic event-triggering mechanism which involves internal state variables is proposed to determine the next triggering instant. It should be noted that the controllers can be designed without the knowledge of some global graph information, such as the eigenvalues of the Laplacian matrix associated with the corresponding communication graph and the number of agents. In addition, the interevent time can be prolonged and the Zeno behavior can be excluded with the proposed dynamic triggering mechanism. Finally, an example is presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed controllers.

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.

Bipartite event-triggered impulsive output consensus for switching multi-agent systems with dynamic leader