Coordination of Networked Nonlinear Multi-Agents Using a High-Order Fully Actuated Predictive Control Strategy

This paper is concerned with the coordinative control problem of networked nonlinear multi-agents (NNM) with communication delays. A high-order fully actuated (HOFA) model is introduced to describe the nonlinear multi-agents. Based on this model, a HOFA predictive coordination method is proposed to compensate for the communication delays actively and achieve simultaneous stability and consensus. This method largely simplifies the design of networked nonlinear multi-agents and makes the control performance be same for networked nonlinear multi-agents with and without communication delays. The analysis on the closed-loop systems derives the simultaneous stability and consensus criteria of networked nonlinear multi-agents using the HOFA predictive coordination method. With the presented way of designing HOFA predictive coordination controllers, a simulated example demonstrates the advantages of the proposed method.