The distributed optimal output consensus problem for high-order multi-agent systems has been studied recently. In this paper, we further focus on the same problem for high-order multi-agent systems subject to parametric uncertainties and aim at distributed robust controllers by measurement output feedback. We first develop a dynamic compensator to estimate the expected optimal consensus point and convert the problem into several decentralized robust tracking problems. Then, by combining the integral control technique and dirty derivative observer technique, we constructively propose a distributed output feedback integral controller to solve this problem under a mild graph connectivity condition.
This paper provides a control protocol for the robust output feedback consensus of networked heterogeneous nonlinear negative-imaginary (NI) systems. Heterogeneous nonlinear output strictly negative-imaginary (OSNI) controllers are applied in positive feedback according to the network topology to achieve output feedback consensus. The main contribution of this paper is extending the previous studies of the robust output feedback consensus problem for networked heterogeneous linear NI systems to nonlinear NI systems. Output feedback consensus is proved by investigating the internal stability of…
Inspired and underpinned by the idea of integral feedback, a distributed constant gain algorithm is proposed for multi-agent networks to solve convex optimization problems with local linear constraints. Assuming agent interactions are modeled by an undirected graph, the algorithm is capable of achieving the optimum solution with an exponential convergence rate. Furthermore, inherited from the beneficial integral feedback, the proposed algorithm has attractive requirements on communication bandwidth and good robustness against disturbance. Both analytical proof and numerical simulations are pro…
This paper provides a protocol to address the robust output feedback consensus problem for networked heterogeneous nonlinear negative-imaginary (NI) systems with free body dynamics. We extend the definition of nonlinear NI systems to allow for systems with free body motion. A new stability result is developed for the interconnection of a nonlinear NI system and a nonlinear output strictly negative-imaginary (OSNI) system. Also, a class of networked nonlinear OSNI controllers is proposed to achieve output feedback consensus for heterogeneous networked nonlinear NI systems. We show that in this …
A robust output feedback consensus problem for networked identical nonlinear negative-imaginary (NI) systems is investigated in this paper. Output consensus is achieved by applying identical linear output strictly negative-imaginary (OSNI) controllers to all the nonlinear NI plants in positive feedback through the network topology. First, we extend the definition of nonlinear NI systems from single-input single-output (SISO) systems to multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems and also extend the definition of OSNI systems to nonlinear scenarios. Asymptotic stability is proved for the clos…
In this note, a novel observer-based output feedback control approach is proposed to address the distributed optimal output consensus problem of uncertain nonlinear multi-agent systems in the normal form over unbalanced directed graphs. The main challenges of the concerned problem lie in unbalanced directed graphs and nonlinearities of multi-agent systems with their agent states not available for feedback control. Based on a two-layer controller structure, a distributed optimal coordinator is first designed to convert the considered problem into a reference-tracking problem. Then a decentraliz…
Optimal Output Consensus of High-Order Multi-Agent Systems with Embedded Technique
Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications（北京邮电大学）；Central South University（中南大学）；Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院）；University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学）
Gain-scheduled synchronization of parameter varying systems via relative $H_\infty$ consensus with application to synchronization of uncertain bilinear systems
In this paper, we investigate the consensus problem of second-order multiagent systems under directed graphs. Simple yet robust consensus algorithms that advance existing achievements in accounting for velocity and input constraints, agent uncertainties, and lack of neighboring velocity measurements are proposed. Furthermore, we show that the proposed method can be applied to the consensus control of uncertain robotic manipulators with velocity and control torque constraints. We rigorously prove that the velocity and control inputs stay within prespecified ranges by tuning design parameters a …
In this paper, we study the leader-following consensus problem of multiple Euler-Lagrange systems subject to an uncertain leader system. We first establish an adaptive distributed observer for a neutrally stable linear leader system whose system matrix is not known exactly. Under standard assumptions, this adaptive distributed observer can estimate and pass the leader's state to each follower through the communication network of the system without knowing the leader's system matrix exactly. Under the additional assumption that the leader's state is persistently exciting, this adaptive distribu…
This paper investigates the distributed optimal output consensus problem of second-order uncertain nonlinear multi-agent systems over weight-unbalanced directed networks. Under the standard assumption that local cost functions are strongly convex with globally Lipschitz gradients, a novel distributed dynamic state feedback controller is developed such that the outputs of all the agents reach the optimal solution to minimize the global cost function which is the sum of all the local cost functions. The controller design is based on a two-layer strategy, where a distributed optimal coordinator a…
In this note, the problem of simultaneous leader-following consensus and parameter estimation is studied for a class of multi-agent systems subject to an uncertain leader system. The leader system is described by a sum of sinusoids with unknown amplitudes, frequencies and phases. A distributed adaptive observer is established for each agent to estimate the unknown frequencies of the leader. It is shown that if the signal of the leader is sufficiently rich, the estimation errors of the unknown frequencies converge to zero asymptotically for all the agents. Based on the designed distributed adap…
Motivated by current sharing in power networks, we consider a class of output consensus (also called agreement) problems for nonlinear systems, where the consensus value is determined by external disturbances, e.g., power demand. This output consensus problem is solved by a simple distributed output feedback controller if a system is either Krasovskii or shifted passive, which is the only essential requirement. The effectiveness of the proposed controller is shown in simulation on an islanded DC power network.
This brief addresses the distributed consensus problem of nonlinear multi-agent systems under a general directed communication topology. Each agent is governed by higher-order dynamics with mismatched uncertainties, multiple completely unknown high-frequency gains, and external disturbances. The main contribution of this brief is to present a new distributed consensus algorithm, enabling the control input of each agent to require minimal information from its neighboring agents, that is, only their output information. To this end, a dynamic system is explicitly constructed for each agent to gen…
Minimum-Energy Distributed Consensus of Uncertain Agents
School of Engineering and IT, UNSW Canberra（新南威尔士大学堪培拉工程学院与信息技术学院）；Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Melbourne（墨尔本大学电气与电子工程系）
In this paper, we study the leaderless consensus problem for multiple Lagrangian systems in the presence of parametric uncertainties and external disturbances under directed graphs. For achieving asymptotic behavior, a robust continuous term with adaptive varying gains is added to alleviate the effects of the external disturbances with unknown bounds. In the case of a fixed directed graph, by introducing an integrate term in the auxiliary variable design, the final consensus equilibrium can be explicitly derived. We show that the agents achieve weighted average consensus, where the final equil…
This paper investigates the consensus problem for nonlinear heterogeneous multi-agent systems with limited communication data rate. Each agent is modeled by a higher-order strict-feedback continuous-time system with unknown nonlinearities andexternal disturbance, and only the first state variable being measurable. Extended state observers (ESOs) are used to estimate the unmeasurable agent states and the unknown nonlinear dynamics. An ESO-based distributed output feedback protocol with dynamic encoding and decoding is then presented. It is shown that, for a connected undirected network, the pro…
Guaranteed Cost Tracking for Uncertain Coupled Multi-agent Systems Using Consensus over a Directed Graph
The University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy（澳大利亚国防军学院新南威尔士大学）；Australian National University（澳大利亚国立大学）；Southeast University（东南大学）
We consider distributed consensus in networks where the agents have integrator dynamics of order two or higher ($n\ge 2$). We assume all feedback to be localized in the sense that each agent has a bounded number of neighbors and consider a scaling of the network through the addition of agents in a modular manner, i.e., without re-tuning controller gains upon addition. We show that standard consensus algorithms, which rely on relative state feedback, are subject to what we term scale fragilities, meaning that stability is lost as the network scales. For high-order agents ($n\ge 3$), we prove th…
In bipartite consensus tracking (BCT) tasks for nonlinear multiagent systems, stochastic disturbances and actuator faults are regarded as essential factors that hamper effective controller formulation and tracking precision improvement. To address these difficulties, we design an improved finitetime performance function (FTPF) for a fuzzy fault-tolerant distributed cooperative control scheme to achieve finite-time robust precision BCT tasks for nonlinear multiagent systems. The parameter selection range of the improved FTPF is relaxed, which renders systems to achieve better transient performa…
Some of the issues associated with the practical applications of consensus of multi-agent systems (MAS) include switching topologies, attrition and inclusion of agents from an existing network, and model uncertainties of agents. In this paper, a single distributed dynamic state-feedback protocol referred to as the Robust Attrition-Inclusion Distributed Dynamic (RAIDD) consensus protocol, is synthesized for achieving the consensus of MAS with attrition and inclusion of linear time-invariant higher-order uncertain homogeneous agents and switching topologies. A state consensus problem termed as t…
This paper considers the distributed robust suboptimal consensus control problem of linear multi-agent systems, with both H2 and H_infty performance requirements. A novel two-step complementary design approach is proposed. In the first step, a distributed control law is designed for the nominal multi-agent system to achieve consensus with a prescribed H2 performance. In the second step, an extra control input, depending on some carefully chosen residual signals indicating the modeling mismatch, is designed to complement the H2 performance by providing robustness guarantee in terms of H_infty r…
Tongji University（同济大学）；Shanghai Research Institute for Intelligent Autonomous Systems（上海智能自主系统研究院）；Beijing Institute of Technology（北京理工大学）；Yangtze Delta Region Academy of Beijing Institute of Technology（北京理工大学长三角研究院）；Peking University（北京大学）
This paper studies the consensus control problem faced with three essential demands, namely, discrete control updating for each agent, discrete-time communications among neighboring agents, and the fully distributed fashion of the controller implementation without requiring any global information of the whole network topology. Noting that the existing related results only meeting one or two demands at most are essentially not applicable, in this paper we establish a novel framework to solve the problem of fully distributed consensus with discrete communication and control. The first key point …
The current paper deals with limited-budget output consensus for descriptor multiagent systems with two types of switching communication topologies; that is, switching connected ones and jointly connected ones. Firstly, a singular dynamic output feedback control protocol with switching communication topologies is proposed on the basis of the observable decomposition, where an energy constraint is involved and protocol states of neighboring agents are utilized to derive a new two-step design approach of gain matrices. Then, limited-budget output consensus problems are transformed into asymptoti…
For a non-linear MIMO feedback system, the robustness against uncertain time-variations in the feedback loop is investigated in an input-output framework. A general sufficient condition in terms of a bound on average rates of time-variation for the system to be stable is derived. The condition gives a tolerable limit on infrequent large variations or slow time-variation rate of a non-linear MIMO adaptive switching system.
In this paper, we consider a network of processors aiming at cooperatively solving mixed-integer convex programs subject to uncertainty. Each node only knows a common cost function and its local uncertain constraint set. We propose a randomized, distributed algorithm working under asynchronous, unreliable and directed communication. The algorithm is based on a local computation and communication paradigm. At each communication round, nodes perform two updates: (i) a verification in which they check---in a randomized fashion---the robust feasibility of a candidate optimal point, and (ii) an opt…
The association of weights in a distributed consensus protocol quantify the trust that an agent has on its neighbors in a network. An important problem in such networked systems is the uncertainty in the estimation of trust between neighboring agents, coupled with the losses arising from mistakenly associating wrong amounts of trust with different neighboring agents. We introduce a probabilistic approach which uses the historical data collected in the network, to determine the level of trust between each agent. Specifically, using the finite history of the shared data between neighbors, we obt…
Time-varying hierarchical multi-agent systems are common in many applications. A well-known solution to control these systems is to use state feedback controllers that depend on the adjacency matrix to reach consensus. This solution has been applied so far to multi-agent systems with fixed or time-varying communication topologies. In this paper, we consider single-integrator multi-agent systems where only a subset of the agents are active at any given time and the set of active agents is time-varying. This type of multi-agent system is relevant in applications such as modular multilevel conver…
