Stabilisation of multi-agent systems over finite fields based on high-order fully actuated system approaches

In this paper, the controllability of multi-agent systems over finite fields is studied based on the high-order fully actuated (HOFA) system approaches. The concept of HOFA systems over finite fields is introduced. Necessary and sufficient conditions for the controllability of linear systems over finite fields are established. It is proved that a leader–follower multi-agent system over finite fields is controllable if and only if it can be transformed into an HOFA system. Then the stabilisation control protocol is proposed based on the full-actuation property, and the upper bound of settling time for the system can be determined. The uncontrollable leader–follower multi-agent system over finite fields can be transformed into a controllable subsystem and an autonomous subsystem via structural decomposition, the conditions for the system to be stabilisable are provided. Finally, an illustrative example is shown to verify the validity of the main results of this paper.