Unknown input observer-based consensus control of uncertain multi-agent systems under intermittent communication

This paper investigates the leader–follower consensus problem of uncertain multi-agent systems under directed graph, where the uncertainties arise from unknown disturbance inputs and initial states. The primary approach to addressing the consensus problem in this paper unfolds in two main steps. Firstly, an unknown input observer, composed of an unknown input reconstruction and a Luenberger-like state observer, is constructed to asymptotically estimate the state and the unknown disturbance input of each follower. Secondly, building on the proposed unknown input observer, a distributed control protocol under intermittent communication is introduced to enable each follower to track the leader’s trajectory. This control protocol incorporates unknown input reconstruction to mitigate the impact of disturbances. This paper further extends the approach to the case with multiple leaders. Ultimately, through two simulation examples, the validity of the results presented in this paper are verified.