Finite-Time Control for Robust Tracking Consensus in MASs With an Uncertain Leader

Area of Science:

• Control Theory
• Robotics
• Networked Systems

Background:

• Multiagent systems require robust coordination, especially with uncertain or unmeasured leader states.
• Time-varying network topologies and unknown leader inputs complicate achieving consensus.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a finite-time control strategy for robust tracking consensus in multiagent systems.
• To address challenges posed by uncertain leaders and time-varying network topologies.
• To design distributed protocols using only relative position information.

Main Methods:

• Neighbor-based state-estimation rule.
• Novel Lyapunov stability analysis.
• Design of continuous, nonlinear distributed tracking protocols.
• Development of a special protocol with bounded control inputs.

Main Results:

• Agents can follow the leader in finite time when the leader's input is known.
• Tracking errors converge to a bounded region in finite time when the leader's input is unknown.
• The proposed protocols ensure finite-time tracking and robust consensus.

Conclusions:

• The developed finite-time control strategies effectively achieve robust tracking consensus for multiagent systems.
• The protocols are applicable even when the leader's state is unmeasured and the network is time-varying.
• Numerical simulations validate the theoretical findings and the protocol's effectiveness.