Internal Model Approach to Cooperative Robust Output Regulation for Linear Uncertain Time-Delay Multi-Agent Systems

In this paper, we study the cooperative robust output regulation problem for linear uncertain multi-agent systems with both communication delay and input delay by the distributed internal model approach. The problem includes the leader-following consensus problem of linear multi-agent systems with time-delay as a special case. We first generalize the internal model design method to systems with both communication delay and input delay. Then, under a set of standard assumptions, we have obtained the solution of the problem via both the state feedback control and the output feedback control. In contrast with the existing results, our results apply to general uncertain linear multi-agent systems, accommodate a large class of leader signals, and achieve the asymptotic tracking and disturbance rejection at the same time.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figure

Distributed Output Regulation for a Class of Nonlinear Multi-Agent Systems with Unknown-Input Leaders

In this paper, a distributed output regulation problem is formulated for a class of uncertain nonlinear multi-agent systems subject to local disturbances. The formulation is given to study a leader-following problem when the leader contains unknown inputs and its dynamics is different from those of the followers. Based on the conventional output regulation assumptions and graph theory, distributed feedback controllers are constructed to make the agents globally or semi-globally follow the uncertain leader even when the bound of the leader's inputs is unknown to the followers.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figure

Coordination of Multi-Agent Systems under Switching Topologies via Disturbance Observer Based Approach

In this paper, a leader-following coordination problem of heterogeneous multi-agent systems is considered under switching topologies where each agent is subject to some local (unbounded) disturbances. While these unknown disturbances may disrupt the performance of agents, a disturbance observer based approach is employed to estimate and reject them. Varying communication topologies are also taken into consideration, and their byproduct difficulties are overcome by using common Lyapunov function techniques. According to the available information in difference cases, two disturbance observer based protocols are proposed to solve this problem. Their effectiveness is verified by simulations.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, 2 table

Adaptive Leader-Following Consensus for a Class of Higher-Order Nonlinear Multi-Agent Systems with Directed Switching Networks

In this paper, we study the leader-following consensus problem for a class of uncertain nonlinear multi-agent systems under jointly connected directed switching networks. The uncertainty includes constant unbounded parameters and external disturbances. We first extend the recent result on the adaptive distributed observer from global asymptotical convergence to global exponential convergence. Then, by integrating the conventional adaptive control technique with the adaptive distributed observer, we present our solution by a distributed adaptive state feedback control law. Our result is illustrated by the leader-following consensus problem for a group of van der Pol oscillators.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures. In this replacement version, the higher-order case is considered instead of the second-order case. Also, the main difference of this version from the reference [16] is that Appendix B is added to show the existence of the limit of the function V(t) defined in the equation (33) as t tends to infinit

Cooperative Global Robust Output Regulation for a Class of Nonlinear Multi-Agent Systems by Distributed Event-Triggered Control

This paper studies the event-triggered cooperative global robust output regulation problem for a class of nonlinear multi-agent systems via a distributed internal model design. We show that our problem can be solved practically in the sense that the ultimate bound of the tracking error can be made arbitrarily small by adjusting a design parameter in the proposed event-triggered mechanism. Our result offers a few new features. First, our control law is robust against both external disturbances and parameter uncertainties, which are allowed to belong to some arbitrarily large prescribed compact sets. Second, the nonlinear functions in our system do not need to satisfy the global Lipchitz condition. Thus our systems are general enough to include some benchmark nonlinear systems that cannot be handled by existing approaches. Finally, our control law is a specific distributed output-based event-triggered control law, which lends itself to a direct digital implementation.Comment: This paper has been submitted to a journal on July 17, 201

On Distributed Internal Model Principle for Output Regulation over Time-Varying Networks of Linear Heterogeneous Agents

We study a multi-agent output regulation problem, where not all agents have access to the exosystem's dynamics. We propose a distributed controller that solves the problem for linear, heterogeneous, and uncertain agent dynamics as well as time-varying directed networks. The distributed controller consists of two parts: (1) an exosystem generator that creates a local copy of the exosystem dynamics by using consensus protocols, and (2) a dynamic compensator that uses (again) consensus to approach the internal model of the exosystem and thereby achieves perfect output regulation. Our approach leverages methods from internal model based controller synthesis, multi-agent consensus over directed networks, and stability of time-varying linear systems; the derived result is an adaptation of the (centralized) internal model principle to the distributed, networked setting

Event-Triggered Cooperative Robust Practical Output Regulation for a Class of Linear Multi-Agent Systems

In this paper, we consider the event-triggered cooperative robust practical output regulation problem for a class of linear minimum-phase multi-agent systems. We first convert our problem into the cooperative robust practical stabilization problem of a well defined augmented system Based on the distributed internal model approach. Then, we design a distributed event-triggered output feedback control law together with a distributed output-based event-triggered mechanism to stabilize the augmented system, which leads to the solvability of the cooperative robust practical output regulation problem of the original plant. Our distributed control law can be directly implemented in a digital platform provided that the distributed triggering mechanism can monitor the continuous-time output information from neighboring agents. Finally, we illustrate our design by an example.Comment: This paper has been accepted for publication in Automatica on May 21, 201

Cooperative Robust Output Regulation Problem for Discrete-Time Linear Time-Delay Multi-Agent Systems

In this paper, we study the cooperative robust output regulation problem for discrete-time linear multi-agent systems with both communication and input delays by distributed internal model approach. We first introduce the distributed internal model for discrete-time multi-agent systems with both communication and input delays. Then, we define so-called auxiliary system and auxiliary augmented system. Finally, we solve our problem by showing, under some standard assumptions, that if a distributed state feedback control or a distributed output feedback control solves the robust output regulation problem of the auxiliary system, then the same control law solves the cooperative robust output regulation problem of the original multi-agent systems.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1508.0420

Gain-scheduled Leader-follower Tracking Control for Interconnected Parameter Varying Systems

This paper considers the gain-scheduled leader-follower tracking control problem for a parameter varying complex interconnected system with directed communication topology and uncertain norm-bounded coupling between the agents. A gain-scheduled consensus-type control protocol is proposed and a sufficient condition is obtained which guarantees a suboptimal bound on the system tracking performance under this protocol. An interpolation technique is used to obtain a protocol schedule which is continuous in the scheduling parameter. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated using a simulation example

Adaptive Leader-Following Consensus for Uncertain Euler-Lagrange Systems under Directed Switching Networks

The leader-following consensus problem for multiple Euler-Lagrange systems was studied recently by the adaptive distributed observer approach under the assumptions that the leader system is neurally stable and the communication network is jointly connected and undirected. In this paper, we will study the same problem without assuming that the leader system is neutrally stable, and the communication network is undirected. The effectiveness of this new result will be illustrated by an example