Secure group consensus of nonlinear multi‐agent systems with multiple attacks under periodic event‐triggered control

Summary In this paper, the secure group consensus is investigated via periodic event‐triggered output feedback control for nonlinear multi‐agent systems subject to multiple attacks, where replay attacks and denial‐of‐service attacks are considered simultaneously. To avoid uninterrupted communication between agents, a novel fixed/switching continuous‐discrete compensator is first put forward by introducing a discrete‐time triggering mechanism in relative output signals. Then, with the help of the gain control technique, a compensator‐based periodic event‐triggered secure control protocol is established, which includes a triggering mechanism and an output feedback controller that both are discrete‐time. Particularly, Zeno behavior and continuous monitoring of the triggering function are naturally avoided compared with existing event‐triggered control protocols. Further, by combining the Lyapunov‐Krasovskii functional approach with switching topology theory, the secure group consensus is successfully achieved under the designed secure control protocol, meanwhile, the negative effect of multiple attacks on the system is compensated. Finally, two simulation examples are applied to verify the effectiveness of proposed control protocols.