Noise-induced consensus of leader-following multi-agent systems

In this paper, we explore deeply the influence of noise on the consensus of leader-following multi-agent systems. The multiplicative noise is used where the strength of noise depends on the state of agents. Two different cases of noise are considered: noise exists between leader and followers only, and in all information exchanging. By employing algebraic graph theory and stability theory of stochastic differential equations, sufficient conditions for achieving consensus in two cases are obtained. Different from previous works, our results reveal that noise plays a positive role in the emergence of consensus. Finally, some numerical simulations are given to demonstrate the analytical results. (c) 2022 International Association for Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (IMACS). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.