Output Feedback Consensus of Lower Triangular Nonlinear Systems under a Switching Topology

Abstract

The output feedback consensus problem of lower triangular nonlinear systems under a directed network with a switching topology is studied. It is assumed that every possible network topology contains a directed spanning tree. The proposed design method utilizes a high gain approach to compensate for triangular nonlinearity and to remove the restriction imposed on dwell time. Compared to the previous research, it is shown that the proposed control method can achieve the output feedback consensus of lower triangular nonlinear systems even in the presence of an arbitrarily small average dwell time. A numerical example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed design method.