Consensus of second-order multi-agent systems with exogenous disturbances

In this paper, the consensus of second-order multi-agent dynamical systems with exogenous disturbances is studied. A pinning control strategy is designed for a part of agents of the multi-agent systems without disturbances, and this pinning control can bring multiple agents' states to reaching an expected consensus track. Under the influence of the disturbances, disturbance observers-based control (DOBC) is developed for disturbances generated by an exogenous system to estimate the disturbances. Asymptotical consensus of the multi-agent systems with disturbances under the composite controller can be achieved for fixed and switching topologies. Finally, by applying an example of multi-agent systems with switching topologies and exogenous disturbances, the consensus of multi-agent systems is reached under the DOBC with the designed parameters. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.