Finite-time consensus of time-varying nonlinear multi-agent systems

This paper investigates the problem of leader–follower finite-time consensus for a class of time-varying nonlinear multi-agent systems. The dynamics of each agent is assumed to be represented by a strict feedback nonlinear system, where nonlinearities satisfy Lipschitz growth conditions with time-varying gains. The main design procedure is outlined as follows. First, it is shown that the leader–follower consensus problem is equivalent to a conventional control problem of multi-variable high-dimension systems. Second, by introducing a state transformation, the control problem is converted into the construction problem of two dynamic equations. Third, based on the Lyapunov stability theorem, the global finite-time stability of the closed-loop control system is proved, and the finite-time consensus of the concerned multi-agent systems is thus guaranteed. An example is given to verify the effectiveness of the proposed consensus protocol algorithm.