Distributed adaptive observer-based output formation-containment control for heterogeneous multi-agent systems with unknown inputs

Here, the authors study the distributed time-varying output formation-containment control of heterogeneous multi-agent systems, where multiple targets have heterogeneous dynamics and unknown inputs. A distributed adaptive observer-based output formation-containment controller is proposed. Firstly, consensus-based adaptive finite impulse response filters are established to estimate the unknown inputs and states of the targets. Then, by constructing an augmented system with the centre of the targets' outputs as its output and using the observers, an output regulation-based formation-containment controller is developed to make agents encircle the targets with certain formation. Finally, a simulation example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.