Consensus for heterogeneous multi-agent systems under fixed and switching topologies

The consensus problem for heterogeneous multi-agent systems under directed topologies is investigated. For continuous-time systems, a novel consensus algorithm is proposed. Based on a system transformation method, the consensus problem for heterogeneous multi-agent systems is converted into a consensus problem for homogeneous multi-agent systems. Necessary and sufficient conditions are presented to guarantee that the designed consensus algorithm asymptotically solves the consensus for heterogeneous multi-agent systems under a fixed topology. The final convergence states are shown explicitly for this case. Sufficient conditions are given to guarantee that heterogeneous multi-agent systems reach consensus asymptotically under switching topologies. The obtained results are superior obviously to the existing ones in the literature. The counterparts about discrete-time systems are also investigated. Both periodic sampling and nonperiodic sampling are considered. Numerical simulations are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the obtained theoretical results. (C) 2015 The Franldin Institute. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.