Adaptive output consensus for heterogeneous nonlinear multi-agent systems with multi-type input constraints under switching-directed topologies

Abstract

This study concentrates on solving the output consensus problem for a class of heterogeneous uncertain nonstrict-feedback nonlinear multi-agent systems under switching-directed communication topologies, in which all followers are subjected to multi-type input constraints such as unknown asymmetric saturation, unknown dead-zone and their integration. A unified representation is presented to overcome the difficulties originating from multi-agent input constraints. Moreover, the uncertain system functions in a non-lower triangular form and the interaction terms among agents are dealt with by exploiting the fuzzy logic systems and their special property. Furthermore, by introducing a nonlinear filter to alleviate the problem of “explosion of complexity” during the backstepping design, a distributed common adaptive control protocol is proposed to ensure that the synchronization errors converge to a small neighborhood of the origin despite the existence of multiple input constraints and arbitrary switching communication topologies. Both stability analysis and simulation results are conducted to show the effectiveness and performance of the proposed control methodology.