Consensus tracking control for nonlinear second-order multi-agent systems with input magnitude and rate constraints

In this study, consensus tracking control is considered for a class of nonlinear second-order multi-agent systems in an undirected communication topology subject to input magnitude and rate constraints (MRCs). Initially, the control inputs are designed directly using the smooth hyperbolic tangent function. Subsequently, some auxiliary signals are developed to guarantee input rate constraints simultaneously. By employing the backstepping method, the proposed control scheme can ensure uniform ultimate boundedness of the closed-loop system, and the consensus tracking error of each agent can converge to a small neighborhood near zero. Finally, the single-link robot manipulator multi-agent system model is used to perform numerical simulations to demonstrate the control effect further.