Consensus problem of high‐order multi‐agent systems with external disturbances: AnH∞analysis approach

This paper is devoted to the output consensus problem of directed networks of multiple high‐order agents with external disturbances, and proposes a distributed protocol using the neighbors' measured outputs. By defining an appropriate controlled output and conducting a model transformation in two steps, consensus performance analysis of the multi‐agent system under the proposed protocol is transformed into a normal H ∞ problem. Then using H ∞ theory of linear systems, conditions are derived to ensure the consensus performance with a prescribed H ∞ index for networks with fixed and switching topologies, respectively. A numerical example of the formation control application is included to validate the theoretical results.