Fixed‐Time Consensus Tracking of Second‐Order Multi‐Agent Systems by Sliding Mode Control

ABSTRACT The fixed‐time leader‐follower consensus issue in second‐order multi‐agent systems (MASs) with uncertain external disturbances will be investigated in this study. The multi‐agent systems are constituted of followers and a leader. First, a distributed fixed‐time observer is developed to estimate the leader's states for each follower, taking into account that only a subset of followers has access to the leader's information. Subsequently, a sliding mode adaptive controller is designed to achieve fixed‐time leader‐follower consensus while enhancing the robustness of the system. In particular, convergence time bounds are determined by tunable parameters, which provide flexibility in designing consensus protocols to satisfy the desired convergence time requirements. Finally, a simulation example is presented to confirm the efficacy of the proposed theoretical results.