Output synchronization of heterogeneous linear multi-agent systems

In this paper, we consider the output synchronization problem of a group of agents with general linear and heterogeneous dynamics. A distributed output feedback control law is designed, which is composed of a state observer and a reference model. As opposed to existing results, the reference model depends on relative output of original heterogeneous agents rather than relative internal state of the reference model itself. As a consequence, the difficulty of exchanging internal state of different agents is circumvented, which makes the implementation of the proposed control law relatively easy. The advantage of the implementation complicates the controller parameter design and stability analysis. Based on Lyapunov analysis, the output synchronization problem of heterogeneous linear multi-agent systems is solved by introducing a low gain design to the controller parameter.