Adaptive resilient containment control for nonlower triangular multiagent systems with time-varying delay and sensor faults

This paper investigates the adaptive resilient containment control for nonlinear multiagent systems (MASs) with time-varying delay, unmodeled dynamics and sensor faults. To solve the coupling problem of unknown state delays and sensor faults in a nonlower triangular structure, we develop an effective method by using a new lemma and the Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional. Then, to reduce the negative impact of unknown sensor faults, a novel adaptive resilient containment control method is designed based on a distributed sliding-mode estimator, which can effectively improve the transient performance of the MASs. Moreover, by using a dynamic signal, the problem of unmodeled dynamics is solved. The proposed control scheme can not only drive all followers suffering from sensor faults to converge to the convex hull formed by the leaders but also relatively reduce the undesired chattering phenomenon. Finally, a comparative simulation example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy.     

Adaptive observer-based event-triggered finite time formation tracking for multi-agent systems with a non-cooperative leader

The event-triggered time-varying formation tracking for a class of second-order multi-agent systems (MASs) subject to a non-cooperative leader is investigated in this paper. First, in the presence of the unknown input of the leader and external disturbances, a distributed observer with adaptive parameters is put forward for followers to estimate the velocity tracking error. Then, based on the estimated tracking error and an auxiliary variable, a finite time formation controller is further constructed, which is updated depending on a pre-designed event-triggered mechanism. As a result, the desired time-varying formation configuration can be realized in finite time with less communication resource consumption. It’s noted that the constructed formation strategy doesn’t rely on any global information and thus is fully distributed. The stability of the controlled multi-agent system is proved rigorously and it’s verified that event-triggered intervals are with a positive lower bound. At last, simulations are carried out to illustrate the effectiveness of the presented algorithm.     

Bipartite time-varying formation group containment control for multi-agent systems based on multi-layer network and semi-signed directed graph

The bipartite time-varying formation group containment tracking control problem of multi-agent systems with unknown input leader on semi-signed digraph is studied. In this paper, the multi-agent system is divided into three layers: the leader layer with unknown input, the formation layer with cooperative-competitive relationship, and the containment layer without competitive relationship. First, the formation members in formation layer track the state of the leader in the leader layer, to achieve bipartite time-varying formation and form two convex hull. Then, by assuming two subgroups of the containment layer exist a well-informed individual (which can receive corresponding convex hull of all the formation members of communication), respectively, the followers of the two subgroups can not only converge to respectively two convex hulls formed by formation layer, also can make the followers of the same subgroup converge to a common value, this provides a prerequisite for the formation control of the followers in the containment layer. Next, different control protocols are designed for formation layer and containment layer respectively based on neighbor information, and Lyapunov function is constructed to provide stability proof for the realization of the problem. Finally, several simulation results are given to verify the validity of the theory.     

Prescribed performance adaptive control for an uncertain robotic manipulator with input compensation updating law

This paper investigates an adaptive prescribed performance control strategy with specific time planning for trajectory tracking of robotic manipulator subject to input constraint and external disturbances. By constructing an accumulated error vector embedded with a performance enhancement function and introducing an input auxiliary function, a specified-time control framework with built-in prescribed performance is further designed to ensure that the trajectory tracking performance. More particularly, the proposed control law is compatible with the control input saturation suppression algorithm, which is capable of improving the robustness of closed loop system. Under the framework of the proposed control strategy, it is proved by theory that all the signals in the closed-loop system are bounded, and moreover the tracking error can reach the exact convergence domain in a given time. At last, a numerical example is presented to indicate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Terminal angle constraint finite-time guidance law with input saturation and autopilot dynamics

This paper proposes a finite-time command filtered backstepping guidance law (FCFBGL) with the terminal angle constraint while accounting for the input saturation and the autopilot dynamics. To eliminate the adverse effect induced by the filtering errors and the acceleration saturation, a new finite-time error compensation mechanism is integrated in the guidance law design. The proposed FCFBGL not only guarantees the the line-of-sight (LOS) angle error to converge to a small neighborhood of the origin in finite time but also achieves the continuity of the input signal. in finite time. Moreover, with the aid of the fractional power extended state observer (FPESO), the proposed FCFBGL requires no information on the target acceleration and the acceleration derivative of the missile, which is preferable in the practical application. The finite-time stability of the proposed guidance law is derived with the Lyapunov methodology. Simulation results illustrate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed guidance law.     

Fraction dynamic-surface-based adaptive neural finite-time control for stochastic nonlinear systems subject to unknown control directions,time-varying input delay and state delay

In this paper, an adaptive neural finite-time tracking control is studied for a category of stochastic nonlinearly parameterized systems with multiple unknown control directions, time-varying input delay, and time-varying state delay. To this end, a novel criterion of semi-globally finite-time stability in probability (SGFSP) is proposed, in the sense of Lyapunov, for stochastic nonlinear systems with multiple unknown control directions. Secondly, a novel auxiliary system with finite-time convergence is presented to cope with the time-varying input delay, the appropriate Lyapunov Krasovskii functionals are utilized to compensate for the time-varying state delay, Nussbaum functions are exploited to identify multiple unknown control directions, and the neural networks (NNs) are applied to approximate the unknown functions of nonlinear parameters. Thirdly, the fraction dynamic surface control (FDSC) technique is embedded in the process of designing the controller, which not only the “explosion of complexity” problems are successfully avoided in traditional backstepping methods but also the command filter convergence can be obtained within a finite time to lead greatly improved for the response speed of command filter. Meanwhile, the error compensation mechanism is established to eliminate the errors of the command filter. Then, based on the proposed novel criterion, all closed-loop signals of the considered systems are SGPFS under the designed controller, and the tracking error can drive to a small neighborhood of the origin in a finite time. In the end, three simulation examples are applied to demonstrate the validity of the control method.     

Distributed chattering-free containment control for multiple Euler–Lagrange systems

This paper investigates the distributed chattering-free containment control problem for multiple Euler–Lagrange systems with general disturbances under a directed topology. It is considered that only a subset of the followers could receive the information of the multiple dynamic leaders. First, by combining a linear sliding surface with a nonsingular terminal sliding manifold, a distributed chattering-free asymptotic containment control method is proposed under the assumption that the upper bounds of the general disturbances are known. Further, based on the high-order sliding mode control technique, an improved distributed chattering-free finite-time containment control algorithm is developed. Besides, adaptive laws are designed to estimate the unknown upper bounds of the general disturbances. It is demonstrated that all the followers could converge into the convex hull spanned by the leaders under both proposed control algorithms by graph theory and Lyapunov theory. Numerical simulations and comparisons are provided to show the effectiveness of both algorithms.     

Barrier Lyapunov function based adaptive region tracking control for underwater vehicles with thruster saturation and dead zone

This paper proposes a new adaptive region tacking control scheme with nonlinear error transformation for underwater vehicles based on barrier Lyapunov functions. In the new scheme, a redefinition of the tracking error is given by introducing nonlinear error transformation in prescribed performance control. Although the results created by the new scheme indicate a slight decrease in the tracking precision, the real tracking error will be still kept within the prescribed performance functions, while the control signals also become smoother, compared with the original prescribed performance control scheme. Then an approximation form of the control input with constraints, together with an improved Nussbaum function, is designed to derive the control law for underwater vehicles with thruster saturation and dead zone. Furthermore, a new velocity error variable is given by introducing an auxiliary variable to compensate the effect from thruster saturation. Finally, it is proved that the nonlinear system is semi-global practical finite-time stable and the tracking error is always kept within the prescribed boundaries. The effectiveness of the proposed region tracking control scheme is validated through simulation-based case studies on an underwater vehicle with measurement noise.     

Prescribed-time containment control with prescribed performance for uncertain nonlinear multi-agent systems

The existing studies on prescribed-time control cannot directly deal with nonlinear functions which don’t satisfy Lipschitz growth conditions. No results are available for prescribed-time containment control of pure-feedback UNMASs with prescribed performance. Therefore, completely unknown nonlinear function, prescribed-time tracking of system states and prescribed performance of containment errors are simultaneously considered in this paper. Fuzzy logic systems are utilized to approximate completely unknown nonlinear function. Prescribed-performance function is introduced and further incorporated into a novel speed function. Combining the proposed speed function and barrier Lyapunov function, this article presents a novel adaptive fuzzy prescribed-time containment control method which can guarantee, under prescribed performance, all followers converge to a convex formed by dynamic leaders in a prescribed time. Moreover, all tracking errors converge to predefined regions in a prescribed time. The effectiveness of the proposed prescribed-time containment control method are confirmed by strict proof and simulation.     

Adaptive-critic-based model reference control for unknown nonlinear systems with input constraints

In this paper, the optimal model reference adaptive control (MRAC) problem is studied for the unknown discrete-time nonlinear systems with input constraint under the premise of considering robustness to uncertainty. Through an input constraint auxiliary system, a new adaptive-critic-based MRAC algorithm is proposed to transform the above problem into the optimal regulation problem of the auxiliary error system with lumped uncertainty. In order to realize the chattering-free sliding model control for the auxiliary error system, an action-critic variable is introduced into the adaptive identification learning. In this case, the closed-loop control system is robust to the disturbance and the neural network approximation error. The uniformly ultimate bounded property is proved by the Lyapunov method, and the effectiveness of the algorithm is verified by a simulation example.     

Consensus tracking control for nonlinear multiagent systems with asymmetric state constraints and input delays

In this paper, the consensus tracking problem is studied for a group of nonlinear heterogeneous multiagent systems with asymmetric state constraints and input delays. Different from the existing works, both input delays and asymmetric state constraints are assumed to be nonuniform and time-varying. By introducing a nonlinear mapping to handle the problem caused by state constraints, not only the feasibility condition is removed, but also the restriction on the constraint boundary functions is relaxed. The time-varying input delays are compensated by developing an auxiliary system. Furthermore, by utilizing the dynamic surface control method, neural network technology and the designed finite-time observer, the distributed adaptive control scheme is developed, which can achieve the synchronization between the followers’ output and the leader without the violation of full-state constraints. Finally, a numerical simulation is provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control protocol.     

Prescribed-time containment control of high-order nonlinear multi-agent systems based on distributed observer

This paper investigates the prescribed-time containment control problem for multi-agent systems with high-order nonlinear dynamics under a directed communication topology. Firstly, in view of the fact that only some follower agents can directly access the state information of multiple leader agents, a prescribed-time distributed observer is put forward to estimate the convex hull spanned by these leaders. Then, with the help of the distributed observer, a novel containment control method is developed for each follower based on a time-varying scaling function, so that all followers can converge to the convex hull spanned by the states of multiple leaders within a prescribed time. The comparison with the finite-time and fixed-time control methods differs in that the convergence time of the method proposed in this paper is independent of the initial conditions and control parameters and can be arbitrarily preassigned according to actual needs. Finally, an example is given to demonstrate the usefulness of the prescribed-time containment control method.     

Distributed fault-tolerant consensus tracking control for multiple Lagrangian systems with preset error bound constraints

Actuator faults often occur in physical systems, which seriously affect the transient performance and control accuracy of the system. For the finite-time consensus tracking problem of multiple Lagrangian systems with actuator faults and preset error constraints, a novel distributed fault-tolerant controller is proposed in this paper. The proposed controller is developed based on the barrier Lyapunov function method and the adding a power integrator technique, which can not only guarantee the steady-state performance of the system but also its transient performance. Due to its strong sensitivity to the variation of system errors, the proposed controller can quickly eliminate the system initial errors and the error perturbations caused by actuator faults. That is, the controller can guarantee that the consensus error converges to zero in a finite time and is always constrained within the preset error bound. Finally, the effectiveness of the developed controller is verified by simulation of a multi-manipulator system.     

Barrier Lyapunov function-based adaptive fuzzy attitude tracking control for rigid satellite with input delay and output constraint

This paper investigates the adaptive attitude tracking problem for the rigid satellite involving output constraint, input saturation, input time delay, and external disturbance by integrating barrier Lyapunov function (BLF) and prescribed performance control (PPC). In contrast to the existing approaches, the input delay is addressed by Pade approximation, and the actual control input concerning saturation is obtained by utilizing an auxiliary variable that simplifies the controller design with respect to mean value methods or Nussbaum function-based strategies. Due to the implementation of the BLF control, together with an interval notion-based PPC strategy, not only the system output but also the transformed error produced by PPC are constrained. An adaptive fuzzy controller is then constructed and the predesigned constraints for system output and the transformed error will not be violated. In addition, a smooth switch term is imported into the controller such that the finite time convergence for all error variables is guaranteed for a certain case while the singularity problem is avoided. Finally, simulations are provided to show the effectiveness and potential of the proposed new design techniques.     

Time-varying formation tracking for high-order multi-agent systems with switching topologies and a leader of bounded unknown input

Time-varying formation tracking problems for high-order multi-agent systems with switching topologies are investigated. Different from the previous work, the states of the followers form a predefined time-varying formation while tracking the state of the leader with bounded unknown control input. Besides, the communication topology can be switching, and the dynamics of each agent can have nonlinearities. Firstly, a nonlinear time-varying formation tracking control protocol is presented which is constructed using only local neighboring information. Secondly, an algorithm with four steps is proposed to design the time-varying formation tracking protocol, where the time-varying formation tracking feasibility condition is introduced. Thirdly, by using the Lyapunov theory, the stability of the proposed algorithm is proven. It is proved that the high-order multi-agent system with switching topologies achieves the time-varying formation tracking if the feasibility condition holds and the dwell time is larger than a positive constant. Finally, a numerical example with six followers and one leader is given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the obtained results.     

Autonomous impulsive rendezvous for spacecraft under orbital uncertainty and thruster faults

This paper investigates the reliable impulsive control problem for autonomous spacecraft rendezvous under the orbital uncertainty and possible thruster faults. The orbital uncertainty is described as the model uncertainty, and the possible thruster faults are modelled by scaling factors. By introducing a state-feedback controller, the autonomous rendezvous problem is regarded as an asymptotic stabilization problem of a switching system composed of impulse action phase and free motion phase. Based on Lyapunov theory and genetic algorithms (GA), a reliable impulsive controller design approach is proposed. With the obtained controller, the autonomous spacecraft rendezvous is accomplished by a series of proper impulse thrust in spite of the orbital uncertainty and the possible thruster faults. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is illustrated by simulation examples.     

Observer-based semi-global containment of saturated multi-agent systems with uncertainties

In this article, the robust semi-global containment control for multi-agent systems affected by uncertainties, such as input additive disturbance, input saturation and dead zone is addressed. An observer-based control algorithm is designed by combining the high-gain observer approach and the low-and-high gain feedback technique. Under the assumption that all agents are asymptotically null controllable with bounded controls and each follower can access the information of at least one leader through a directed path, sufficient conditions for the semi-global output feedback containment control are provided. Finally, numerical simulations are proposed to verify the main theoretical results.     

Output containment control of heterogeneous multi-agent systems with leaders of bounded inputs: An adaptive finite-time observer approach

In this paper, we address the problem of output containment control of general linear multi-agent systems (MASs). The MAS under consideration is comprised by multiple followers and multiple leaders, all with heterogeneous dynamics. In particular, the leaders’ dynamics are subject to heterogeneous non-zero (possibly persistent) but bounded inputs, which are not measurable for any follower agent, making the associated distributed control design problem rather challenging. A new distributed observer-based containment control protocol is proposed to overcome associated challenges. It consists of two hierarchical layers including (i) the first layer of adaptive finite-time cooperative observer responsible for estimating the convex-hull signals formed by multiple leaders’ states through inter-agent collaboration; and (ii) the second layer of distributed state-feedback controller responsible for local tracking control through a modified output regulation technique. Important novelties of the proposed protocol are that (i) it deals with MASs with not only heterogeneous followers but also heterogeneous leaders; (ii) exact output containment control performance can be achieved in the presence of unmeasurable leaders’ inputs and unknown connectivity of communication network; and (iii) associated solvability conditions are formulated as linear matrix inequalities plus linear algebraic equations, which can be tested and solved effectively via efficient semi-definite programming. The developed theoretical results are demonstrated both rigorously using Lyapunov methods and through numerical simulations.     

T-S fuzzy tracking control of nonlinear constrained time-delay systems using a reference-management approach

A new control design approach is proposed for a class of nonlinear systems expressed by Takagi–Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy model, considering several objectives including robustness against input time-varying delay, input constraint satisfaction, and reference tracking. The proposed controller is designed on the basis of an augmented model, Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional, linear matrix inequality (LMI) tools, and parallel distributed compensation (PDC) approach. Proof of the input-to-state stability (ISS) criterion is provided for the error dynamics. Input constraint satisfaction is performed using a reference-management algorithm based on the linearized closed-loop system from the reference input to the constrained variables. In order to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed control approach, simulations are performed on three practical examples, including a flexible-joint robot and a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR).