On the consensus of heterogeneous multi-agent systems: a decoupling approach

This article deals with consensus algorithms for heterogeneous multi-agent systems (MAS). A control strategy based on a consensus algorithm which is decoupled from the original systems is proposed. Consequently, its major advantage remains in the separation of the stability analysis of each subsystem and the distributed control algorithm. Through the paper, it is shown that our method allows using classical distributed consensus algorithms such as simple integrator consensus (with or without delay) and distributed consensus filter algorithms. Finally, some simulations supporting our theoretical results are presented, where the efficiency of the method is tested for completely arbitrary models.