Sampled‐data consensus of multiagent systems with switching jointly connected topologies via time‐varying Lyapunov function approach

Summary Consensus problem of multiagent systems with switching jointly connected topologies under sampled‐data control is studied in this article. The main contribution is that the consensus problem for such system is solved without the assumption that the system matrices are stable or critically stable. For this purpose, a time‐varying Lyapunov function method is utilized to describe the state characteristics with switching jointly connected topologies. Based on the time‐varying matrix of Lyapunov function, the “decline” characteristics at the switching instants is derived to compensate the divergence among the agents with disconnected topologies. Utilizing the “decline” characteristics, the overall consensus of such system can be guaranteed in the framework of dwell time. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed result is illustrated by two numerical examples.