Fully Distributed Low-Complexity Control for Nonlinear Strict-Feedback Multiagent Systems With Unknown Dead-Zone Inputs

In this paper, the distributed control problem of nonlinear strict-feedback multiagent systems is addressed under directed and time-invariant communication graphs. With the utilization of the prescribed performance control methodology, a control algorithm is proposed to ensure predefined bounds of overshoot, convergence rates, and steady-state values of the neighborhood synchronization errors in the presence of unknown dead-zone inputs. The algorithm is fully distributed in the sense that the control input for each agent is independent of any global information of the communication graph and is solely based on local relative output information from its neighborhood set. The approximating structures, e.g., neural networks or fuzzy systems, and the command filters that are typically incorporated to avoid the need for analytical derivatives in the backstepping design are not employed here, resulting in a low-complexity design. Simulation results are included to verify the algorithm.