Asynchronous and aperiodic sampled-data control for general linear multiagent systems

In this paper, an asynchronous and aperiodic sampled-data control scheme for continuous-time multiagent systems (MASs) with intermittent communication is investigated. We propose a novel time-based and aperiodic sampling scheme for data transmissions among agents. In distributed MASs, the accurate timing alignment of different agents is difficult to guarantee; thus, data-sampling time sequences are naturally asynchronous for different agents. Initially, a minimum allowable sampling period is enforced after each data sampling to eliminate the Zeno behavior. The maximum allowable sampling periods play a crucial role in ensuring the consensus of MASs. We focus on prolonging the intersampling periods while ensuring the consensus of MASs. A reverse average dwell time condition is introduced, which can significantly improve the maximum allowable sampling periods. Moreover, additional dynamic clock variables are introduced to characterize the sampling intervals. Based on hybrid system theories, some sufficient conditions that guarantee the consensus of MASs are given. The results indicate that there exist certain trade-offs between the maximum allowable sampling period and reverse average dwell time. Finally, some numerical simulations are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the obtained theoretical results.