Average-consensus tracking of multi-agent systems with additional interconnecting agents

Average-consensus tracking problem is investigated for first-order multi-agent systems composed of valid agents and additional interconnecting agents. Valid agents have constant reference inputs, while additional interconnecting agents do not have reference inputs. Average-consensus tracking algorithms are proposed for the agents converging to the average value of constant reference inputs of valid agents. Under symmetric and connected topology, consensus conditions are obtained for the agents without and with communication delay, respectively, by using generalized Nyquist criterion. Numerical examples illustrate the correctness of theoretical results. (C) 2018 The Franklin Institute. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.