Time-Varying Formation-Containment Control for Heterogeneous Multi-Agent Systems With Communication and Output Delays via Observer-Based Feedback Protocol
Yi Yang, Yong Min He · IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering · 2025
In this article, the time-varying formation-containment control problem of heterogeneous multi-agent systems (MASs) with an observer-based state feedback protocol is studied, where both communication delays and output delays are taken into consideration. By introducing an augmented Lyapunov-Krasovskii functionals (LKFs) candidate and employing less conservative methods to estimate its derivative, an improved quasi-formation-containment criterion is derived. On this basis, some observers and controllers are designed to allow for a larger maximum upper bound (MUB) of time delays on the premise of guaranteeing the fulfillment of the time-varying formation of leaders and the bounded convergence of followers. The estimation of the MUB determines the allowable delay range for system stability under the designed observers and controllers. Moreover, a distributed algorithm is developed to calculate the MUB of time delays, the observer gains, and the controller gains. Finally, two simulation experiments are implemented to demonstrate the obtained results, which verify the superiority and practicability of the criterion and algorithm.