Distributed fixed-time consensus for nonlinear heterogeneous multi-agent systems

The distributed fixed-time consensus problem for a class of heterogeneous nonlinear leader–follower multi-agent systems is investigated in this paper. The considered multi-agent systems comprise several first-order nonlinear systems and second-order nonlinear systems of which the inherent nonlinearities are allowed to be lower-order and higher-order. By designing distributed fixed-time observers and fixed-time tracking controllers, it is theoretically shown that distributed consensus for the heterogeneous nonlinear multi-agent systems can be achieved in a fixed time, i.e., the achievement time for consensus is independent of any initial states. A simulation example is provided to show the effectiveness of the designed consensus controllers.