Networked multi-agent cooperative control: theory and applications

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A networked multi-agent system, being composed of multiple interacting dynamic agents connected via communication networks, can be used to solve problems which are difficult or impossible for an individual agent. Application examples include: a team of mobile robots for land mine search; unmanned aerial vehicles for surveillance; and, underwater vehicles for undersea exploration. These are all critical areas of importance to maintaining Canada's prominence in the global knowledge-based economy. The primary objective is to make the agents behave consistently, the so called consensus problem, by designing a networked cooperative control strategy. However, communication networks and complex agent dynamics present tremendous challenges to control engineers and designers: (1) the multirate information transmission among agents, (2) network-induced random delays and packet losses, and (3) the heterogeneous dynamics of agents. Existing control design methodology has not kept pace with the technology - most cooperative control theory and practice ignore the aforementioned practical communication constraints, which may significantly degrade performance.