Distributed robust stabilization of networked multiagent systems with strict negative imaginary uncertainties

Abstract

Summary This paper deals with the distributed robust stabilization problem for networked multiagent systems with strict negative imaginary (SNI) uncertainties. Communication among agents in the network is modelled by an undirected graph with at least one self‐loop. A protocol based on relative state measurements of neighbouring agents and absolute state measurements of a subset of agents is considered. This paper shows how to design the protocol parameters such that the uncertain closed‐loop networked multiagent system is robustly stable against any SNI uncertainty within a certain set for various different network topologies. Tools from negative imaginary (NI) theory are used as an aid to simplify the problem and synthesise the protocol parameters. We show that a state, input, and output transformation preserves the NI property of the network. Consequently, a necessary and sufficient condition for the transfer function matrix of the nominal closed‐loop networked system to be NI and satisfy a DC gain condition is that multiple reduced‐order equivalent systems be NI and satisfy a DC gain condition simultaneously. Based on the reduced‐order systems, we derive sufficient conditions in an LMI framework which ensure the existence of a protocol satisfying the desired objectives. A numerical example is given to confirm the effectivenesses of the proposed results.