Fixed-time terminal sliding mode tracking protocol design for high-order multiagent systems with directed...

Area of Science:

• Control Systems Engineering
• Robotics
• Networked Systems

Background:

• Multi-agent systems (MAS) with directed communication topologies present challenges in achieving consensus.
• Asymmetric communication links hinder effective state estimation and coordinated control.
• Existing consensus protocols often lack precise convergence time guarantees.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel fixed-time consensus tracking protocol for high-order multi-agent systems (MAS).
• To achieve fixed-time leader's state estimation despite asymmetric communication topology.
• To design a controller with tunable gains based on a pre-specified consensus time.

Main Methods:

• A new distributed observer is proposed for fixed-time leader state estimation.
• A series of terminal sliding surfaces are constructed.
• A singularity-free sliding mode fixed-time tracking protocol is developed.

Main Results:

• The proposed tracking protocol guarantees fixed-time consensus tracking for the MAS.
• The controller gain can be determined from the pre-specified time, allowing for tailored tuning.
• A less conservative estimation of the convergence time bound is achieved.

Conclusions:

• The developed protocol effectively achieves fixed-time consensus tracking in high-order MAS with directed communication.
• The approach provides precise control over convergence time and enhances system coordination.
• Simulation results validate the efficacy of the proposed fixed-time consensus tracking scheme.