Group controllability of continuous‐time multi‐agent systems

Abstract

This study addresses the group controllability of continuous‐time multi‐agent systems. The problem is investigated in the leaderless framework where the whole group is consisted of a number of dynamic agents with autonomous capability, which can complete the large‐scale complex task through local interaction and can be divided into some subgroups. This study concentrates on the group controllability problems of continuous‐time multi‐agent systems, gives the general definition of the group controllability, and establishes group controllability criteria. Sufficient and necessary conditions are derived for the group controllability of continuous‐time multi‐agent systems. Finally, the numerical example and simulations are given to illustrate the theoretical results.