Robust consensus algorithm for second-order multi-agent systems with external disturbances

Abstract

This article investigates the problem of robust consensus for second-order multi-agent systems with external disturbances. Based on a non-smooth backstepping control technique, a class of novel continuous non-smooth consensus algorithms are proposed for the multi-agent network with/without communication delays. The controller design is divided into two steps. First, for the kinematic subsystem, the velocity is regarded as a virtual input and designed such that the states consensus can be achieved asymptotically. Then for the dynamic subsystem, a finite-time control law is designed such that the virtual velocity can be tracked by the real velocity in a finite time. Under the proposed control law, it is shown that if the communication topology graph contains a directed spanning tree, the states consensus can be achieved asymptotically in the absence of disturbances. In the presence of disturbances, the steady-state errors of any two agents can reach a small region around the origin. By building a relationship between control parameters and the bound of steady tracking errors, it is demonstrated that the disturbance rejection performance of the resulting closed-loop system can be enhanced by adjusting the fractional power in the non-smooth controller. Finally, an example is given to verify the efficiency of the proposed method.