Leader-Follower Tracking Control for Multi-Agent Systems Based on Input Observer Design

This paper presents a novel study of input observer-based leader-follower tracking for multi-agent systems (MASs). A widely held assumption in the present literature on MAS tracking is that the leader's input is available to all followers. The viability of this assumption, however, can be challenged by the reality that the communication topology only allows a leader to send its data to its neighbors. In an effort to overcome this barrier, this paper proposes to build an input observer-based tracking control framework and algorithm. In this framework, an input observer is designed so that each follower can locally estimate the leader's input. The input reconstruction is then combined with a tracking controller, which will allow a follower to effectively achieve tracking. Convergence property of the proposed algorithm is rigorously analyzed. The simulation result demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed framework and algorithm.