This paper is concerned with the sampled-data consensus problem for a class of nonlinear multiagent systems subject to cyber attacks. The considered attacks are assumed to be recoverable, which destroy the connectivity of the network topology with directed spanning tree. In light of the designed sampled-data control protocol, a more general switched system is proposed to model both the cyber attacks and the sampled-data mechanism within a unified framework. Then, by using the contradiction methods, the solution of a class of differential equations is provided to deal with the technical challenge resulting from the switching and sampling issues. Furthermore, in terms of such a solution combined with the constructed piecewise Lyapunov function, sufficient conditions are derived under which the nonlinear multiagent systems subject to attacks achieve the consensus exponentially. The relationship between the attack frequency and the sampling period is also revealed through the obtained conditions. Finally, simulations are given to show the effectiveness of the proposed results.
KEYWORDSconsensus, cyber attacks, multiagent systems, sampled data, switched systems Corrections added on 3 July 2017, after first online publication: the word 'Equation' had been inserted incorrectly in some cases in the text and has since been removed.Int J Robust Nonlinear Control. 2018;28:53-67.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/rnc