Finite-Duration Consensus of Multi-Agent Systems Using a Generic Attracting Law

This paper is concerned with the convergence rate improvement of consensus of multi-agent systems, for which we introduce a generic attracting law (GAL), involving three terms which specify a generic action for improvement of convergence performance. The conventional double power-rate attracting law is modified for forming GAL, by adding a proportional term, and the convergence rate of the system can be dramatically improved. Through the two-phase analysis, an estimate for the upper bound of the settling time function is given, by which the obtained upper bound depends upon the initial state, and is finite without regard to the value of the initial state. The GAL is adopted for the purpose of consensus of multi-agent systems. A nonlinear protocol is designed to make the system undertaken achieve finite-duration consensus, and numerical results are presented to validate its effectiveness.