Event-Based Consensus for a Class of Nonlinear Multi-Agent Systems With Sequentially Connected Topology

To reduce actuation burden in dynamical network environment, the event-triggering strategy is applied to consensus protocol for a class of nonlinear multi-agent systems with a switching topology. The considered switching topology is assumed to be sequentially connected, which is directed disconnected. The combinational measurement approach is adopted in the event-triggering strategy such that each agent updates control rule only at its own event-triggering instants. First, by using the iterative method, we establish the recursive relationship of maximal distance sequence. Then, sufficient conditions of event-based bounded consensus can be obtained by the contractive property of maximal distance sequence. Meanwhile, it is proved that the designed event-triggering rule can avoid Zeno behavior. Furthermore, as an extension, we consider the case of jointly connected topology, and the corresponding consensus problem is also explored. Finally, a numerical simulation is provided to confirm the derived theoretical results.