Resiliency of linear system consensus in the presence of channel noise

Abstract

This paper presents multi-agent based control of networked linear time invariant systems in a noisy environment. The control protocol is based on output information received from other subsystems through the communication channel, which imparts noise to the sensor data. We show that the sum of the mean square state errors between various subsystems converges to a small bound for the multi-agent system. It is apparent that a higher controller gain tends to make the networked system arrive at a consensus faster, while at the same time has the detrimental effect of enlarging the radius of consensus. Resilience of consensus is demonstrated in that the controller maintains collective stability in the event of communication or subsystem failures.