Fixed-Time Cooperative Tracking Control With Novel Finite-Time Parameter Estimation Algorithm for Nonlinear Multi-Agent Systems

This research proposes a fixed-time cooperative tracking control with finite-time parameter estimation in nonlinear second-order multi-agent systems (MASs) under directed communication topology. An auxiliary filter is designed to reconstruct the unknown parameters based on the parameter estimation error within a finite time. The adaptive law proposed in this framework is formulated by incorporating a filtered regressor driven both by the consensus and parameter estimation error. The fixed-time convergence of the consensus error to zero which is aided with salient feature of parameter estimation algorithm is analyzed rigorously via Lyapunov analysis. The fixed-time tracking control, a fractional-order-based nonlinear algorithm is developed to leverage a modified consensus error and employs sliding mode with adaptive coefficients. Additionally, the robustness of the control schemes is also investigated against bounded disturbances. Finally, the effectiveness of the developed methods is validated through extensive simulations.