Dynamic behavior of discrete-time multiagent systems with general communication structures

In this paper, we discuss the dynamic behavior of networks of dynamic agents with general communication topologies. We first analyze the basic case: systems with communication topologies that have spanning trees, i.e., the systems that solve consensus problems. We establish an algebraic condition to characterize each agent's contributions to the final state. And we also study the influence of time-delays on each agent's contributions. Then, we investigate the general case: systems with weakly connected topologies. By using matrix theory, we prove that the states of internal agents will converge to a convex combination of boundary agents in the absence or presence of communication time-delays, and we also show that the coefficients of the convex combination are independent of time-delays even if the delays are time-varying. These results have broad applications in other areas, e.g., study of swarm behavior, formation control of vehicles, etc. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.