Distributed event-triggered adaptive finite-time consensus control for second-order multi-agent systems with connectivity preservation

Abstract In this paper, we consider the robust finite-time consensus problem for second-order multi-agent systems (MASs) with limited sensing range and weak communication ability. As a stepping stone, a novel distributed finite-time sliding mode manifold is developed for MASs. Then, by combining artificial potential function technique with the presented sliding mode manifold, a robust distributed control scheme is proposed to enable the finite-time consensus of MASs while preserving the prescribed communication connectivity. Furthermore, the sampling frequency and implementation burden of the proposed controller can be reduced with resort to the event-triggered methodology. Finally, numerical examples are given to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.