Finite-time consensus for multi-agent systems via impulsive control

This paper investigates the finite-time consensus problem of leaderless and leader-follower multi-agent systems via impulsive control. Based on finite-time control technique and impulsive control strategy, two distributed finite-time consensus protocols are proposed. Some sufficient conditions are given to ensure that the proposed impulsive protocols have a much faster convergence speed than continuous finite-time protocols without impulse. It is also shown that the desired states can be achieved in finite time by intermittently sending the leader's state to at least one follower. Moreover, the range of the impulsive gains that can be tolerated by system is given. Finally, some simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed protocols and the appropriateness of the bound of the impulsive gains.