Multiagent Interval Consensus With Flocking Dynamics

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Qin, Jiahu; Ma, Qichao; Yi, Peng; Wang, Long
• 署名单位: Chinese Academy of Sciences; University of Science & Technology of China, CAS; Tongji University; Tongji University; Peking University
• 刊物名称: IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON AUTOMATIC CONTROL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0018-9286
• DOI: 10.1109/TAC.2021.3120619
• 发表日期: 2022
• 页码: 3965-3980
• 关键词: Stability analysis; Multi-agent systems; asymptotic stability; CONVERGENCE; Social networking (online); Damping; optimization; directed network; existence and uniqueness of an equilibrium point; interval consensus; second-order multiagent systems (MASs)

摘要

In this article, we investigate the interval consensus for a network of agents with flocking dynamics, i.e., second-order multiagent systems, where each agent imposes an interval constraint on its preferred consensus values, with the aim of driving the agent into a favorable interval. Specifically, we work on two different frameworks of interval constraints, viz., the first one that the node states are constrained in their own constraint intervals and the second one that the node states are constrained in their neighbors' constraint intervals. For both of the frameworks, we provide a complete solution to the equilibrium seeking problem by resolving a system of nonlinear equations. It is proved that if the underlying graph is strongly connected and the intersection of constraint intervals is empty, then there exists a unique equilibrium point; and if the intersection is nonempty, then there exist multiple equilibrium points, all of which lead to state consensus. We also establish several conditions for the local stability of the unique equilibrium point (corresponding to the case with empty intersection of constraint intervals) or local constraint consensus (corresponding to the case with nonempty intersection of constraint intervals) by invoking Lyapunov's indirect method. Characterization of the global behavior of such a second-order multiagent system is technically rather challenging at this stage. As a first step toward this end, we show in two special cases that global convergence to the unique equilibrium point or state consensus can be guaranteed by employing Lyapunov stability theory and robust analysis techniques. Finally, some numerical examples are provided to illustrate the theoretical findings.