A networked predictive controller for linear multi-agent systems with communication time delays

Networked predictive control is an effective method to handle time delays and data dropouts in networked control systems, but it is difficult to apply the control strategy to networked multi-agent systems. First, the computational burden will increase exceedingly when the control strategy is applied to networked multi-agent systems. Second, restrictions have to be imposed on the communication topology to implement the control strategy; Third, most existing networked predictive controllers lack robustness to model uncertainties. In this paper, these problems are solved by introducing predicting error to the control scheme. The proposed control strategy not only guarantees consensus and stability of the overall system, but also reduces the computational burden exceedingly. In addition, the proposed algorithm is robust to model uncertainties. At last, the proposed control strategy can be executed in distributed processors, therefore, flexibility and robustness are preserved for the networked multi-agent systems. These features make the control strategy applicable in practice. Digital simulations and experiments based on spacecraft simulators are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy. (C) 2020 The Franklin Institute. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.