Observer-based event-triggered control for consensus of general linear MASs

This study investigates the consensus problem for general linear multi-agent systems (MAS) via observer-based dynamic output feedback event-triggered control. Assume that the relative state information is unknown for each agent and only the relative output feedback between neighbouring agents can be measured. To solve the consensus problem, the authors develop a novel observer-based event-triggered approach to design a dynamic relative output feedback control. Two event-triggering time sequences are constructed. One is the relative output to the observer and another is the observer error to the controller. One can prove that under the proposed control strategies, the consensus problem can be solved via linear matrix inequalities as well as Riccati inequality if the communication graph of the MAS is connected. Furthermore, the Zeno-behaviour of triggering time sequences can be avoided. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed strategies is illustrated by a numerical example.