Title: Consensus over networks with dynamic channels

Authors: Jing Wang, Nicola Elia

Addresses: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50010, USA. ' Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50010, USA

Abstract: In this paper, we investigate the consensus problem over communication networks where the communication channels are represented by stable Linear Time Invariant (LTI) systems. We give the necessary and sufficient condition to reach consensus under our protocol and show that the consensus value is not only determined by the agents| initial states and the network topology but also by the channels| dynamics. We further show that if the H_∞ norm of each channel filter is equal to its DC gain, the extended protocol will solve the consensus problem. This result is interpreted in terms of consensus robustness to channel uncertainty and compared with another robustness condition for a different uncertainty class.

Keywords: multi-agent coordination; consensus robustness; network control; dynamic channels; communication networks; multi-agent systems; MAS; agent-based systems; channel uncertainty.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSCC.2010.031167

International Journal of Systems, Control and Communications, 2010 Vol.2 No.1/2/3, pp.275 - 297

Published online: 23 Jan 2010 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article