Distributed prescribed-time leader–follower tracking consensus control for high-order nonlinear MASs

A novel distributed prescribed-time leader–follower tracking consensus control strategy is proposed for high-order nonlinear multi-agent systems with lower triangular time-varying dynamics in directed communication topology. Firstly, a distributed prescribed-time state observer (DPTSO) is presented for each follower to estimate the states of the leader. Based on the DPTSO, the consensus problem is transformed into a tracking control problem; that is, the follower tracks the estimations of the DPTSO. Then, a distributed prescribed-time controller is developed by using the cascade control framework and dynamic control, which avoids the problem of differential explosion in traditional back-stepping control. The convergence time of the DPTSO and distributed prescribed-time controller is not only explicitly pre-specified but also determined regardless of the initial states of the system and control parameters. Finally, it is demonstrated that the closed-loop systems realize prescribed-time full-state leader–follower tracking consensus. Simulation results show that the method is effective and feasible.