Mask Privacy Preservation Prescribed-Time Consensus Control for Nonlinear Multi-Agent Systems

In this study, we propose an innovative prescribed-time consensus control strategy for nonlinear strict-feedback multi-agent systems (MASs) with privacy protection requirements. Firstly, compared with the existing privacy protection strategies, the mask function adopted in this paper remains unknown to all agents, including the sender, thus greatly improving the security level of information transmission. Secondly, the existing related research results basically overlook prescribed-time control in the context of privacy preservation, based on the backstepping method, a prescribed time performance function is adopted in this paper, so that the systems can make the tracking error within the defined accuracy range within a user-defined time. Finally, through the verification of MATLAB simulation experiments, the proposed control strategy not only effectively realizes the privacy-preserving consensus control of multi-agent systems, but also shows better control performance compared with the existing schemes. Note to Practitioners—This paper aims to develop a mask privacy protection prescribed-time control algorithm for information transmission between multiple agents. In the automation industry, the demand for privacy protection in multi-agent systems is critical, necessitating the implementation of robust measures during agent collaboration and data sharing to safeguard data confidentiality. Employing advanced privacy-preserving technologies is essential to prevent the exposure of sensitive information, thereby ensuring the security of corporate secrets and operational integrity, in compliance with the evolving stringent privacy regulations. In addition, prescribed-time control enables users to achieve preset accuracy within a predefined time, reducing industrial resource consumption and improving resource utilization in the automation industry.