Finite-Time Time-Varying Formation Tracking for Heterogeneous Nonlinear Multiagent Systems Using Adaptive Output Regulation

The finite-time output time-varying formation tracking (TVFT) problem for heterogeneous nonlinear multiagent system (MAS) is investigated in this article, where the dynamics of the agents can be nonidentical, and leader’s input is unknown. The target of this article is that the outputs of followers need to track leader’s output and realize the desired formation in finite time. First, for removing the assumption that all agents are required to know the information of leader’s system matrices and the upper boundary of its unknown control input in previous studies, a kind of finite-time observer is constructed by exploiting the neighboring information, which can estimate not only the leader’s state and system matrices but also can compensate for the effects of unknown input. On the basis of the developed finite-time observers and adaptive output regulation method, a novel finite-time distributed output TVFT controller is proposed with the help of the technique of coordinate transformation by introducing an extra variable, which removes the assumption that the generalized inverse matrix of follows’ input matrix needs to be found in the existing results. By means of the Lyapunov and finite-time stability theory, it is proven that the expected finite-time output TVFT can be realized by the considered heterogeneous nonlinear MASs within a finite time. Finally, simulation results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed approach.