Skip to main content
Log in

Consensus tracking protocol and formation control of multi-agent systems with switching topology

  • Published:
Journal of Central South University of Technology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Consensus tracking control problems for single-integrator dynamics of multi-agent systems with switching topology are investigated. In order to design effective consensus tracking protocols for a more general class of networks, which are aimed at ensuring that the concerned states of agents converge to a constant or time-varying reference state, new consensus tracking protocols with a constant and time-varying reference state are proposed, respectively. Particularly, by contrast with spanning tree, an improved condition of switching interaction topology is presented. And then, convergence analysis of two consensus tracking protocols is provided by Lyapunov stability theory. Moreover, consensus tracking protocol with a time-varying reference state is extended to achieve the formation control. By introducing formation structure set, each agent can gain its individual desired trajectory. Finally, several simulations are worked out to illustrate the effectiveness of theoretical results. The test results show that the states of agents can converge to a desired constant or time-varying reference state. In addition, by selecting appropriate structure set, agents can maintain the expected formation under random switching interaction topologies.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. EREN T, BELHUMEUR P N, MORSE A S. Closing ranks in vehicle formations based on rigidity [C]// Proceedings of the 41st IEEE Conference on Decision and Control. New Haven, CT, USA, 2002: 2959–2964.

  2. VIDAL R, SHAKENIA O, SASTRY S. Formation control of nonholonomic mobile robots with omnidirectional visual servoing and motion segmentation [C]// Proceedings of IEEE Conference on Robotics and Automation. Berkeley, CA, USA, 2003: 584–589.

  3. FAX A, MURRAY R M. Information flow and cooperative control of vehicle formations [J]. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 2004, 49(9): 1465–1476.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  4. FOX D, BURGARD W, KRUPPA H, THRUN S. A probabilistic approach to collaborative multi-robot localization [J]. Automatic on Robots, 2000, 8(3): 325–344.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. TANNER H G, LOIZOU S G, KYRIAKOPOULOS K J. Nonholonomic navigation and control of multiple mobile manipulators [J]. IEEE Transactions on Robot Automation, 2003, 19(1): 53–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. YU Wen-wu, CHEN Guang-rong, WANG Zi-dong, YANG Wen. Distributed consensus filtering in sensor networks [J]. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part B: Cybernetics, 2009, 39(6): 1568–1577.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. LOW S H, PAGANINI F, DOYLE J C. Internet congestion control [J]. IEEE Control System Magazine, 2002, 22(1): 28–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. OLFATI SABER R, MURRAY R M. Consensus problems in networks of agents with switching topology and time-delays [J]. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 2004, 49(9): 1520–1533.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  9. REN Wei, BEARD R W. Consensus seeking in multiagent systems under dynamically changing interaction topologies [J]. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 2005, 50(5): 655–661.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  10. JADBABAIE A, LIN J, MORSE A S. Coordination of groups of mobile autonomous agents using nearest neighbor rules [J]. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 2003, 48(9): 988–1001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. OLFATI SABER R, FAX J A, MURRAY R M. Consensus and cooperation in networked multi-agent systems [C]// Proceedings of the IEEE. Hanover, NH, 2007: 215–233.

  12. ZHANG Ya, TIAN Yu-ping. Consentability and protocol design of multi-agent systems with stochastic switching topology [J]. Automatica, 2009, 45(5): 1195–1201.

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  13. XIAO Feng, WANG Long. Asynchronous consensus in continuous-time multi-agent systems with switching topology and time-varying delays [J]. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 2008, 53(8): 1804–1816.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  14. LIU Bo, CHEN Tian-ping. Consensus in networks of multiagents with cooperation and competition via stochastically switching topologies [J]. IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks, 2008, 19(11): 1967–1973.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. XIAO Feng, WANG Long. Consensus protocols for discrete-time multi-agent systems with time-varying delays [J]. Automatica, 2008, 44(1): 2577–2582.

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  16. XIAO Feng, WANG Long and JIA Ying-min. Fast information sharing in networks of autonomous agents [C]// Proceedings of the 2008 American Control Conference, Beijing, 2008: 4388–4393.

  17. SUN Yuan-gong, WANG Long, XIE Guang-ming. Average consensus in networks of dynamic agents with switching topologies and multiple time-varying delays [J]. Systems and Control Letters, 2008, 57(2): 175–183.

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  18. LIN Peng, JIA Ying-min. Average consensus in networks of multi-agents with both switching topology and coupling time-delay [J]. Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2008, 387(1): 303–313.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. REN Wei, BEARD R W, ATKINS E M. Information consensus in multivehicle cooperative control [J]. IEEE Control Systems Magazine, 2007, 27(2): 71–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. REN Wei. Consensus tracking under directed interaction topologies: Algorithms and experiments [J]. IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, 2010, 18(1): 230–237.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. REN Wei, BEARD R W. Distributed consensus in multi-vehicle cooperative control: theory and applications [M]. London: Springer-Verlag, 2008: 55–73.

    Google Scholar 

  22. LI Zhong-kui, DUAN Zhi-sheng, CHEN Guang-rong and HUANG Lin. Consensus of multiagent systems and synchronization of complex networks: A unified viewpoint [J]. IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems, 2010, 57(1): 213–224.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  23. QU Zhi-hua. Cooperative control of dynamic systems: applications to autonomous vehicles [M]. London: Springer-Verlag, 2009, 167–172.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xiao-hong Nian  (年晓红).

Additional information

Foundation item: Projects(61075065, 60774045) supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China; Project supported by the Graduate Degree Thesis Innovation Foundation of Central South University, China

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Nian, Xh., Su, Sj. & Pan, H. Consensus tracking protocol and formation control of multi-agent systems with switching topology. J. Cent. South Univ. Technol. 18, 1178–1183 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11771-011-0820-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11771-011-0820-5

Key words

Navigation