Finite-Time Consensus of Multiagent Systems With a Switching Protocol

• Published in: IEEE transaction on neural networks and learning systems Vol. 27; no. 4; pp. 853 - 862
• Main Authors: Xiaoyang Liu, Lam, James, Wenwu Yu, Guanrong Chen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States IEEE 01-04-2016; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Convergence; Convergence time; finite-time consensus; Multi-agent systems; multiagent system; Nickel; Protocol; Protocols; Switches; switching protocol; Topology; Upper bound; Convergence time; finite-time consensus; multiagent system; switching protocol
• ISSN: 2162-237X; 2162-2388
• DOI: 10.1109/TNNLS.2015.2425933

In this paper, we study the problem of finite-time consensus of multiagent systems on a fixed directed interaction graph with a new protocol. Existing finite-time consensus protocols can be divided into two types: 1) continuous and 2) discontinuous, which were studied separately in the past. In this paper, we deal with both continuous and discontinuous protocols simultaneously, and design a centralized switching consensus protocol such that the finite-time consensus can be realized in a fast speed. The switching protocol depends on the range of the initial disagreement of the agents, for which we derive an exact bound to indicate at what time a continuous or a discontinuous protocol should be selected to use. Finally, we provide two numerical examples to illustrate the superiority of the proposed protocol and design method.