Distributed Observer Type Protocol for Flocking of Linear Second-Order Multi-Agent Systems Subject to External Disturbance

Abstract

This paper studies the leader–follower flocking of multi-agent systems for the linear second-order dynamics, subject to the external disturbance problem. It is assumed that the dynamic of the leader is Lipschitz-type. Also, the velocity is the output of the system, and full-state information is not available for feedback. A distributed full-order observer is employed to estimate every agent's states and external disturbance. A control protocol for each agent is designed based on the measurement of its output/velocity and relative velocity of its neighbors. Under the proposed protocol, the velocity convergence of whole agents to the velocity of the virtual leader is guaranteed as well as the connectivity of network and collision avoidance among agents are ensured. Finally, a simulation example is provided to show the effectiveness of the results.