Control Problem For Multi-agent Systems Research Articles

Optimized Backstepping-Based Containment Control for Multiagent Systems With Deferred Constraints Using a Universal Nonlinear Transformation.

This article investigates an optimized containment control problem for multiagent systems (MASs), where all followers are subject to deferred full-state constraints. A universal nonlinear transformation is proposed for simultaneously handling the cases with and without constraints. Particularly, for the constrained case, initial values of states are flexibly managed to the midpoint between upper and lower boundaries by utilizing a state-shifting function, thus eliminating the initial restriction conditions. By deferred constraints, the state is forced to fall back into the restrictive boundaries within a preassigned time. A neural network (NN)-based reinforcement learning (RL) algorithm is executed under the identifier-critic-actor architecture, where the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation is built in every subsystem to optimize control performance. For actor and critic NNs, updating laws are simplified, since the gradient descent method is performed based on a simple positive function rather than square of Bellman residual error. In view of the Lyapunov stability theorem and graph theory, it is proved that all signals are bounded and the outputs of followers can eventually enter into the convex hull constituted by leaders. Finally, simulations confirm the validity of the proposed approach.

Event-based finite-time sliding mode consensus tracking control for multiagent systems with actuator failures

This paper investigates the finite-time sliding mode control problem for multiagent systems with actuator failures and external disturbances. Given the presence of unknown nonlinear terms in the controlled multiagent systems, a radial basis function neural network is employed to ensure system robustness. To achieve consensus tracking of sliding mode dynamics within a finite-time, a finite-time integral sliding manifold is proposed. An adaptive law is designed to estimate the unknown fault coefficient, and then a distributed event-triggered adaptive sliding mode fault-tolerant control protocol is developed to deal with external disturbances and actuator faults in multiagent systems, which can effectively reduce the communication bandwidth and enhance reliability against actuator faults. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed control method, a numerical example is provided.

Bipartite containment control of multi-agent systems subject to adversarial inputs based on zero-sum game

In this paper, we investigate bipartite containment control problem of multi-agent systems (MASs) with signed directed graph under adversarial inputs. Firstly, we define the bipartite containment error and establish the equivalence between the bipartite containment error converging to zero and the achievement of bipartite containment control. Subsequently, we prove that the bounded L2-gain bipartite containment problem under adversarial inputs can be reformulated as a multi-player zero-sum differential graphical game problem and can be solved via the solution to the coupled Hamilton-Jacobi-Isaacs (HJI) equation. To address this, we propose a policy iteration (PI) algorithm and prove its convergence under different updating cases. The proposed algorithm is implemented by neural networks (NNs) and a numerical simulation example is provided to show its effectiveness.

Prescribed-time leader-follower consensus and containment control for nonlinear multi-agent systems with event-triggered control protocols

This paper discusses the prescribed-time leader-follower consensus and containment control problems for a class of nonlinear multi-agent systems with external disturbances. First, an event-triggered control protocol with sign function is proposed, which can ensure that all agents achieve consensus within a prescribed time. Second, as the sliding mode control has the advantage of good robustness to external disturbances, an improved event-triggered control protocol is designed by using the integral sliding mode control method and some sufficient conditions are derived for achieving the prescribed-time leader-follower consensus. Moreover, the prescribed-time containment control problem for multi-agent systems with multiple leaders is investigated by using the event-triggered control strategy. It is shown that Zeno behavior can be excluded in the above consensus issues by choosing parameters appropriately. Finally, several numerical examples are given to demonstrate the effectiveness and reliability of the proposed approaches.

Resilient interval observer-based coordination control for multi-agent systems under stealthy attacks

In this paper, the coordination control problem of multi-agent systems (MASs) subjected to stealthy attacks and uncertainties is considered, where the uncertainties refer to unknown external disturbances and initial states. We consider a scenario in which the sensors are maliciously attacked, rendering the traditional interval observer’s bounds ineffective for estimating the system states. By solving the linear programming problem, the maximum destructive attack sequences are generated. A distributed resilient interval observer composed of a resilient framer and a control protocol is designed, in which the construction of control protocol for each agent depends on the framer information of its own and its neighbors. It is demonstrated by the cooperativity theory and the Lyapunov stability theory that the distributed resilient interval observer can not only realize interval-valued state estimation for each agent but also drive the cooperative behavior of MASs. In addition, the observer gain matrix is selected and optimized by solving a semi-definite programming problem to provide tighter bounds for each agent. Meanwhile, the bounds of stealthy attacks are calculated. Finally, through a simulation example, the superiority of the distributed resilient interval observer and the effectiveness of the resilient interval observer-based consensus control algorithms are validated.

Adaptive expected-time tracking consensus control for multiagent systems with external disturbances and time delays

This paper studies the expected-time tracking control problem for multiagent systems with disturbances and time delays. The expected-time control scheme can ensure that control objectives can be completed within the desired time. In the other words, the output signal can track the reference signal in an expected time. Based on a special error and the adaptive technology, the expected-time tracking consensus control scheme is achieved. Moreover, by using the neural networks technique, the unknown nonlinear functions which often exist in the dynamic of the system are handled. According to the Lyapunov stability theorem and the Lyapunov–Krasovskii function, it is proved that the consensus errors are semi-globally uniformly ultimately bounded. At last, the feasibility of the control method is verified by a simulation example.

Distributed event-triggered collaborative control for multiagent systems against DoS attacks

This paper deals with the event-triggered collaborative control problem of multiagent systems (MASs) under denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. For large-scale MASs, it is difficult to implement fully distributed collaborative control by tuning the coupling strengths of all edges due to the limitation of computing resources in practical applications. To overcome this difficulty, an edge-pinning-based adaptive strategy for coupling strengths is established, under which only the coupling strengths of partial edges are tuned instead of all ones. Under this strategy, the edge-pinning-based resilient distributed event-triggered synchronous and asynchronous adaptive laws are designed, both of which ensure the implementation of security consensus against DoS attacks and the elimination of Zeno behavior. It should be pointed out that the designed two resilient consensus strategies are fully distributed. Additionally, under these event-triggered strategies, the updating of control protocols and the monitoring of triggering functions do not require continuous communications, thus reducing the communication burden among agents. Finally, simulations conducted on a network composed by six aircrafts are provided to illustrate the theoretical results.

Robust Distributed Containment Control with Adaptive Performance and Collision Avoidance for Multi-Agent Systems

This paper deals with the containment control problem for multi-agent systems. The objective is to develop a distributed control scheme that leads a sub-group of the agents, called followers, within the convex hull that is formed by the leaders, which operate autonomously. Towards this direction, we propose a twofold approach comprising the following: (i) a cyber layer, where the agents establish, through the communication network, a consensus on a reference trajectory that converges exponentially fast within the convex hull of the leaders and (ii) a physical layer, where each agent tracks the aforementioned trajectory while avoiding collisions with other members of the multi-agent team. The main contributions of this work lie in the robustness of the proposed framework in both the trajectory estimation and the tracking control tasks, as well as the guaranteed collision avoidance, despite the presence of dynamic leaders and bounded but unstructured disturbances. A simulation study of a multi-agent system composed of five followers and four leaders demonstrates the applicability of the proposed scheme and verifies its robustness against both external disturbances that act on the follower model and the dynamic motion of the leaders. A comparison with a related work is also included to outline the strong properties of the proposed approach.

Containment control for second-order multi-agent systems with time-varying delays via variable-augmented-based free-weighting matrices

This paper investigates the containment control problem for multi-agent systems (MASs), where the time-varying communication delays are considered. The aim of this paper is to introduce new methods for the containment control research of MASs with time-varying delays. To obtain better results on maximum admissible upper bounds (MAUBs) of the delays to ensure the containment control, the variable-augmented-based free-weighting matrices (VABFWMs) method is introduced to avoid the higher-order terms of time-varying delays in estimating the derivative of the Lyapunov-Krasovskii functionals (LKFs). So our method no longer requires the quadratic function negative-determination lemma. In addition, by utilizing the proposed method, we design a containment controller to ensure that all followers are included into the convex hull formed by leaders. Finally, a numerical example is presented to illustrate the feasibility and superiority of our method.

Energy-Efficient Distributed Formation Control of Sampled-Data Multiagent Systems With Packet Losses.

This article investigates an energy-efficient formation control problem for multiagent systems with sampled data and random packet losses. A Bernoulli stochastic variable is used to describe packet losses, which is defined relative to the transmission energy consumed by antennas. A distributed sampled-data formation control law is designed and some analytic sufficient conditions on the formation control are derived. It is revealed that the sampling period, control parameters, network topology, as well as the transmission energy used by sensors impose inherent limitations in achieving the formation. Also, a method for searching the minimum allowable transmission energy is presented. Finally, numerical simulations are shown for illustration and verification.

Periodic event-triggered bipartite containment control for nonlinear multi-agent systems with input delay

ABSTRACT This paper studies the periodic event-triggered bipartite containment control problem of multi-agent systems with unmeasurable states and input delays. To deal with the system input delay problem, a Pade approximation technique is introduced. By utilising the sampled output of the system, a fuzzy state observer is constructed to estimate the unknown state. A periodic event-triggered mechanism is designed, which can effectively reduce the usage of communication resources. Compared with the traditional event-triggered control manner, a periodic event-triggered control manner only monitors the preset threshold condition at the sampling instant to determine whether to update the current control signal, which can automatically guarantee the minimum lower bound of the execution interval, avoiding the occurrence of Zeno behaviour. Stability analysis verifies that all signals in the closed-loop system are bounded, and the bipartite tracking error can converge to a small neighbourhood of the origin. Finally, a practical example further verifies the effectiveness of the designed control scheme.

Dual-Event-Triggered Intelligence Security Control for Multiagent Systems Against DoS Attacks With Applications in Mobile Robot Systems

The intelligence security control problem of multiagent systems in the presence of actuator faults is investigated against denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. Noticing that the DoS attacks usually make the actuator signal not available for distributed control protocols, a novel intelligence dual-eventtriggered control strategy is developed to eliminate the impact of DoS attacks. This control strategy includes two related event triggers respectively set on different channels, in which the second event-triggered condition is related to the triggering sequence of the previous event. Through the coordination between two nested event triggers set on different channels, the controller is avoided by being affected by wrong signals caused by DoS attacks. The developed distributed control protocol can not only guarantee the realization of the tracking control task but also ensure that no ‘Zeno behavior” occurs in the process of the event triggering. Moreover, the obtained results are applied to the mobile robot systems. Finally, a numerical simulation example and a mobile robot system application are given to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.

Fixed time containment control of multi-agent system under multi-source mismatched disturbance

Aiming at the cooperative control problem of multi-agent system, the fixed-time containment control of general second-order multi-agent system under mismatched disturbances is studied. Firstly, the problem of multi-agent system fixed-time containment control in ideal state is analyzed, and a distributed control protocol based on variable structure control is proposed. Then, a nonlinear fixed-time disturbance observer is designed, aiming at the mismatched disturbance, and a fixed-time control protocol based on the nonlinear disturbance observer is proposed. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed control protocol under switching topology and multi-source disturbance is verified by numerical simulation.

Secure Consensus Control of Multiagent Systems Under DoS Attacks: A Switching-Scheme-Based Active Defense Method.

This article studies the secure consensus control problem of multiagent systems (MASs) with a nonzero input leader subject to denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. The introduction of backup topologies makes it possible for MASs to actively defend against DoS attacks. Subsequently, a novel active defense method consisting of two types of state observers, an adaptive topology switching mechanism, and switching controllers is proposed, which can ensure the leader-follower bound consensus even if DoS attacks hinder the interaction between agents. Within such a defense framework, the switching mechanism, driven by the predefined performance index and designed monitoring function, can automatically search for a healthy communication graph among backup topologies. Concurrently, the observer-based switching control strategy will be modified to match the corresponding topology, in which the universal observer and controller parameters in different topologies are obtained by solving linear matrix inequalities. It should be highlighted that the developed defense scheme not only removes the limitations of existing results on the duration and frequency of DoS attacks but also ensures the same upper bound of consensus error before and after DoS attacks. Finally, several simulation examples for different systems illustrate the efficiency and superiority of the theoretical results.

Estimator-Based Reinforcement Learning Consensus Control for Multiagent Systems With Discontinuous Constraints.

This article focuses on the optimal consensus control problem for multiagent systems (MASs) with discontinuous constraints. The case of discontinuous constraints is a particular instance of state constraints, which has been studied less but occurs in many practical situations. Due to the discontinuous constraint boundaries, the traditional barrier function-based backstepping methods cannot be used directly. In response to this thorny problem, a novel constraint boundary reconstruction technique is proposed by designing a class of switch-like functions. The technique can convert discontinuous constraint boundaries into continuous ones, and it strictly proves that when the states satisfy the transformed constraint boundaries, the original constraints are also absolutely fulfilled. Meanwhile, with the aid of the barrier function and distributed event-triggered estimator, an improved coordinate transformation is constructed, which can remove the "feasibility condition" and simplify the controller design. In addition, by introducing prediction error and revised term into the learning process of neural networks (NNs), the optimal consensus problem is resolved by constructing a modified reinforcement learning strategy. Finally, the stability of the MASs is testified through the Lyapunov stability theory, and a simulation example verifies the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Dynamic Event-Driven Finite-Horizon Optimal Consensus Control for Constrained Multiagent Systems.

This article investigates the event-driven finite-horizon optimal consensus control problem for multiagent systems with symmetric or asymmetric input constraints. Initially, in order to overcome the difficulty that the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation is time-varying in finite-horizon optimal control, a single critic neural network (NN) with time-varying activation function is applied to obtain the approximate optimal control. Meanwhile, for minimizing the terminal error to satisfy the terminal constraint of the value function, an augmented error vector containing the Bellman residual and the terminal error is constructed to update the weight of the NN. Furthermore, an improved learning law is proposed, which relaxes the tricky persistence excitation condition and eliminates the requirement of initial stability control. Moreover, a specific algorithm is designed to update the historical dataset, which can effectively accelerate the convergence rate of network weight. In addition, to improve the utilization rate of the communication resource, an effective dynamic event-triggering mechanism (DETM) composed of dynamic threshold parameters (DTPs) and auxiliary dynamic variables (ADVs) is designed, which is more flexible compared with the ADV-based DETM or DTP-based DETM. Finally, to support the effectiveness of the proposed method and the superiority of the designed DETM, a simulation example is provided.

Sampled-based adaptive event-triggered resilient control for multiagent systems with hybrid cyber-attacks

The multiagent systems have shared broad application in many practical systems including unmanned aircraft clusters, intelligent robots, and intelligent transportation. However, many unexpected cyber-attacks may disturb or disrupt the normal communication of the agents, thus reducing the interacting efficiency of multiagent systems. Ever since the cyber-attacks have been proposed, the resilient control problem for multiagent systems has been intensively explored in light of the communication network growth. However, most of the consequences only focused on denial-of-service (DoS) attacks or deception attacks independently. Distinguished from the existing resilient control mechanisms, the current investigation represents the first attempt at designing an adaptive resilient controller for multiagent systems according to the sampled-based adaptive event-triggered manner, where denial-of-service (DoS) attacks and deception attacks are both considered. First, the hybrid cyber-attacks model and its impact on the closed-loop system are addressed. And then, an adaptive event-triggered strategy is proposed to reduce network resource consumption and ease the communication burden, where the designed adaptive law can automatically adjust the triggering threshold. Finally, the consensus state of multiagent systems is capable of achieving via a series of reasonable control rules formulated through Lyapunov functional approach despite suffering hybrid cyber-attacks. And a simulation example is given to substantiate the feasibility of the proposed method.

Nonfragile containment control of nonlinear multi‐agent systems via a disturbance observer‐based approach

AbstractIn this article, we consider the nonfragile containment control problem of nonlinear multi‐agent systems (MASs) with exogenous disturbance where the communication links among agents under consideration is directed. Firstly, based on relative output measurements between the agent and its neighbors, a disturbance observer‐based control protocol is proposed to solve the containment control problem of MASs with inherent nonlinear dynamics and exogenous disturbances. Secondly, because of the additional tuning of parameters in the real control systems, uncertainties in the designing of observer and controller gains always occur, and as a result, an output feedback controller with disturbance rejection is conceived and the containment control problem of nonlinear MASs with nonfragility is thoroughly investigated. Then, depending on matrix transformation and inequality technique, sufficient conditions of the designed controller gains exist, which is derived from the asymptotic stability analysis problem of some containment error dynamics of MASs. Finally, two simulation examples are exploited to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed techniques.

Secured consensus control for multi-agent systems under DoS attacks: Coding–decoding communication protocol

This paper focuses on the leader following consensus control problem for multi-agent systems (MASs) subject to denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. First, a sliding mode observer is developed to estimate each agent state, actuator, and sensor fault. Then, a coding–decoding communication protocol is proposed to enhance the communication security between agents. Based on the sliding mode observer and communication protocol, a leader-following consensus controller is designed to guarantee the consensus and input-to-state stability of MASs under DoS attacks. Finally, the effectiveness of the developed controller is verified by a simulation example.

Neuroadaptive Performance Guaranteed Control for Multiagent Systems With Power Integrators and Unknown Measurement Sensitivity.

This article investigates the adaptive performance guaranteed tracking control problem for multiagent systems (MASs) with power integrators and measurement sensitivity. Different from the structural characteristics of existing results, the dynamic of each agent is a power exponential function. A method called adding a power integrator technique is introduced to guarantee that the consensus is achieved of the MASs with power integrators. Different from existing prescribed performance tracking control results for MASs, a new performance guaranteed control approach is proposed in this article, which can guarantee that the relative position error between neighboring agents can converge into the prescribed boundary within preassigned finite time. By utilizing the Nussbaum gain technique and neural networks, a novel control scheme is proposed to solve the unknown measurement sensitivity on the sensor, which successfully relaxes the restrictive condition that the unknown measurement sensitivity must be within a specific range. Based on the Lyapunov functional method, it is proven that the relative position error between neighboring agents can converge into the prescribed boundary within preassigned finite time. Finally, a simulation example is proposed to verify the availability of the control strategy.