Leader–follower synchronization of networked multi‐agent systems via hybrid protocols

Abstract This paper studies the leader–follower synchronization problem of complex‐valued networked multi‐agent systems with time‐delay. A new hybrid protocol including a continuous‐time protocol which is based on the interaction topology of follower agents and a pinning delayed impulsive control protocol is proposed. By employing the Lyapunov functional method in complex domains and the mathematical analysis technique, several delay‐dependent leader–follower synchronization criteria are established that take into account various sizes of delays. Particularly, our result shows that leader–follower synchronization of delayed complex‐valued networked multi‐agent systems can be achieved even if the proposed hybrid protocol is being subject to relatively large impulse delays. A numerical example is provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results.