Second-Order Consensus for Multi-Agent Systems by Time-Dependent Topology Switching

This paper studies the approach of taking network topology as a control variable for the analysis of second-order multi-agent systems. We particularly consider the setting where the local control inputs of individual agents are governed by their relative positions only. Based on the known results in the theory of stability of switched linear systems, we propose a time-dependent topology-switching algorithm that enables the agents to asymptotically achieve consensus. The main advantages of the proposed method, with respect to the prior work, are twofold: we allow the control protocol to work without velocity measurements; and we do not constrain the magnitudes of coupling weights. Simulation results are provided to verify the effectiveness of the algorithm.