Containment control of second-order multi-agent systems with directed topology and time-delays

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the impacts of the communication time-delays to the distributed containment control of the second-order multi-agent systems with directed topology.

Design/methodology/approach

A basic theoretical analysis is first carried out for the containment control of the second-order multi-agent systems under directed topology without communication time-delay and a sufficient condition is proposed for the achievement of containment control. Based on the above result and frequency-domain analysis method, a sufficient condition is also derived for the achievement of containment control of the second-order multi-agent systems under directed topology with communication time-delays. Finally, simulation results are presented to support the effectiveness of the theoretical results.

Findings

For the achievement of containment control of the second-order multi-agent systems under directed topology with communication time-delay, the control gain in the control protocols is completely dependent on the communication topology structure and the maximum of time-delay in the control protocols is dependent on the given control gain and communication topology structure.

Originality/value

The paper investigates the containment control of the second-order multi-agent systems under directed topology with communication time-delays and presents a sufficient conditions for the achievement of containment control. The results and approach proposed in the paper may benefit interesting researchers.

Citation

Qi, B., Lou, X. and Cui, B. (2014), "Containment control of second-order multi-agent systems with directed topology and time-delays", Kybernetes, Vol. 43 No. 8, pp. 1248-1261. https://doi.org/10.1108/K-06-2013-0113