Convergence Properties of Dynamic Agents Consensus Networks with Broken Links

Convergence properties of distributed consensus protocols on networks of dynamical agents have been analyzed by combinations of algebraic graph theory and control theory tools under certain assumptions, such as strong connectivity. Strong connectivity can be regarded as the requirement that the information of each agent propagates to all the others, possibly with intermediate steps and manipulations. However, because of network failures or malicious attacks, it is possible that this assumption no longer holds, so that some agents are only receiving or only transmitting information from other subsets of agents. In this case, strong connectivity is replaced by weak connectivity. We analyze the convergence properties of distributed consensus on directed graphs with weakly connected components. We show conditions for which the agreement is reached, and, for the cases in which such conditions do not hold, we provide bounds on the residual disagreement.