Adaptive consensus for multi-agent systems with switched nonlinear dynamics and switching directed topologies

In this paper, the leader-following consensus problem is investigated for heterogeneous switched nonlinear multi-agent systems with switching topologies. First, because the whole state information cannot be obtained, two adaptive observers are, respectively, developed to accurately estimate the switched system states and the state of the leader for each follower. Then, a novel adaptive controller that employs these observers is developed for the heterogeneous switched nonlinear multi-agent systems, and the problems regarding switched systems and the switching topologies can be solved in the process of the adaptive controller design. Moreover, the switching rule of the switched systems satisfies the average dwell time as well as the assumed conditions of the communication topologies by only directing routes to all followers from the leader. Finally, a simulation analysis is conducted to demonstrate the validity of the presented methods.