Adaptive bipartite output consensus of nonlinear fractional-order multi-agent systems

A distributed control approach is proposed for a class of fractional-order multi-agent systems with unknown nonlinearities under signed bipartite digraphs. Unlike the existing results, the follower's dynamics are studied with strict-feedback fractional-order form as well as a general class of actuator faults with unknown magnitude, pattern and occurrence time is studied. To provide a simple and efficient control strategy, first a novel command fractional-order filter based on the backstepping design is proposed such that the difficulty of calculation of the fractional derivative order of the virtual control laws is removed, as well as improving the bipartite output consensus accuracy. Then, to cope with dynamic's uncertainties, the proposed method is integrated with adaptive neural approximator and minimal learning parameter scheme which reduces communication loads. Besides, a distributed fault compensation protocol based upon the proposed command fractional-order filter and relative output information of neighbours' agents is extended to ensure bipartite output consensus, without relying on any global information of the singed digraph as well as any explicit fault detection mechanism. Finally, it is guaranteed that all the error signals within the closed-loop network system are converged into adjustable compact sets around the origin. The simulation results verify the validity of the presented control approach.