Second-order consensus of multi-agent systems with nonlinear dynamics via impulsive control

In many real-world multi-agent systems, the intrinsic dynamics of velocity for each agent is usually nonlinear dynamic rather than static. Moreover, it is often difficult to obtain the continuous velocity information of multi-agent systems. To overcome the above essential difficulties, this paper aims at investigating the second-order consensus problem of multi-agents systems with nonlinear dynamics by using impulsive control signal protocol. In detail, by using the impulsive signals from agents and virtual leaders, several impulsive control protocols are designed for reaching the second-order consensus of multi-agent systems with fixed or switching topologies. The theoretical analysis is also given to guarantee the second-order consensus based on algebraic graph theory and stability theory of impulsive differential equations. Finally, two typical examples are used to validate the above developed theoretical results. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.