Adaptive consensus control of nonlinear multi-agent systems with mixed-delays via energy-based intermittent communication scheme

Abstract This paper introduces a new energy-based intermittent communication scheme to address the consensus control in nonlinear multi-agent systems with mixed delays. The key aspect of this scheme is the utilization of the current error energy to determine when the agents should execute control protocols. To monitor the error energy, two lines, specifically security line and intermittent line, are constructed in the non-negative real region. Building upon these lines, an innovative intermittent rule is established to dynamically assign work period and rest period based on real-time error energy. Furthermore, by incorporating a distributed adaptive control protocol into the energy-based intermittent scheme, the general consensus of multi-agent systems with mixed delays can be accomplished, under which the adaptive law is eliminated during the rest period. In comparison to current time-based schemes, the presented energy-based intermittent communication strategy satisfies “on-demand control” and tolerate more rest period. Finally, a computational simulation involving two scenarios is presented to validate our strategy.