Parameters estimation using mABC algorithm applied to distributed tracking control of unknown nonlinear fractional-order multi-agent systems

This paper addresses the parameters estimation and distributed tracking control of unknown nonlinear fractional-order multi-agent systems (FOMASs) with external disturbances from the viewpoint of optimization. Firstly, a modified artificial bee colony (mABC) algorithm is put forward to enhance the exploration and exploitation abilities of the original ABC algorithm. Secondly, a parameters estimation approach based on the above mABC algorithm is proposed to estimate the unknown fractional orders and system parameters, where the parameters estimation is converted into a multi-dimensional functional optimization problem. Thirdly, the obtained parameters estimation values are further utilized to construct a distributed control algorithm for solving the tracking control problem. Finally, the experimental results illustrate that the proposed approaches can accurately estimate and robustly control such unknown nonlinear FOMASs. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.