Prescribed Time Time-varying Output Formation Tracking for Uncertain Heterogeneous Multi-agent Systems

The time-varying output formation tracking for the heterogeneous multi-agent systems (MAS) is investigated in this paper. First, a distributed observer is constructed for followers to estimate the states of the leader, which can ensure that the estimation error converges to the origin in the prescribed time. Then, the local formation controller is designed for each follower based on the estimation of the observer, under which, the formation errors converge to the origin in the prescribed time as well. That is, the settling time of the whole system can be predefined in advance. It's noted that not only the uncertainties in the state matrix but also the uncertainties in the input matrix are considered, which makes the problem more practical. Last, a simulation is performed to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.