Average consensus in networks of agents with neutral dynamics

This paper addresses the average consensus problem of multi-agent systems with neutral dynamics for the first time. By decoupling the neutral multi-agent system in terms of the eigenvalues of the Laplacian matrix, we establish necessary and sufficient conditions for average consensus of neutral multi-agent systems in undirected networks. For the particular case of constant delay, a least upper bound of the allowable time delay for consensus is given.