An integrated decision-execution framework of cooperative control for multi-agent systems via reinforcement learning

Cooperative control is both a crucial and hot research topic for multi-agent systems (MASs). However, most existing cooperative control strategies guarantee tracking stability under various non-ideal conditions, while the path decision capability is often ignored. In this paper, the integrated decision-execution (IDE) framework is newly presented for cooperative control of multi-agent systems (MASs) to accomplish the integrated task of path decision and cooperative execution. This framework includes a decision layer and a control layer. The decision layer generates a continuous trajectory for the virtual leader to reach the target from its initial position in an unknown environment. To achieve the goal of this layer, (1) the Step-based Adaptive Search Q-learning (SASQ-learning) algorithm is proposed based on reinforcement learning to efficiently find the discrete path, (2) an Axis-based Trajectory Fitting (ATF) method is developed to convert the discrete path into a continuous trajectory for mobile agents. In the control layer, this trajectory is used to regulate the following MASs to achieve cooperative tracking control with the presence of input saturation. Simulation experiments are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of this framework.