Distributed optimal coordination of uncertain nonlinear multi-agent systems over unbalanced directed networks via output feedback

In this article, a novel observer-based output feedback control approach is proposed to address the distributed optimal coordination problem of uncertain nonlinear multi-agent systems in the normal form over unbalanced directed graphs. The main challenges of the concerned problem lie in unbalanced directed graphs and nonlinearities of multi-agent systems with their agent states not available for feedback control. Based on a two-layer controller structure, a distributed optimal coordinator is first designed to convert the considered problem into a reference-tracking problem. Then a decentralized output feedback controller is developed to stabilize the resulting augmented system. A high-gain observer is exploited in controller design to estimate the agent states in the presence of uncertainties and disturbances so that the proposed controller relies only on agent outputs. The semi-global convergence of the agent outputs toward the optimal solution that minimizes the sum of all local cost functions is proved under standard assumptions. A key feature of the obtained results is that the nonlinear agents under consideration are only required to be locally Lipschitz and possess globally asymptotically stable and locally exponentially stable zero dynamics. © 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.