Potential Function Based Fully Distributed Finite-Time Event-Triggered Consensus for Multi-Agent Systems over Directed Graphs

This paper proposes a novel approach for distributed finite-time event-triggered consensus control of multi-agent systems over directed graphs. In the proposed approach, a potential function is introduced in the control protocol design and a dynamic external variable with a finite-time convergence rate is involved in the construction of triggering thresholds. By using the proposed approach, finite-time consensus can be achieved in a fully distributed manner and the Zeno behavior is ruled out in the framework of finite-time event-triggered consensus. The proposed approach does not need global information and only a directed spanning tree is required for the underlying communication graph. Additionally, the requirement on continuous communication for controller updates or triggering detection is removed. Finally, an example is given to show the feasibility of the proposed approach.