Asymptotic Formation Tracking Control for Heterogeneous Multi-Agent Systems with External Disturbances and Time-Varying Actuator Faults

This paper investigates the asymptotic formation tracking control problem for heterogeneous multi-agent systems (HMASs) subject to external disturbances and time-varying actuator faults. A comprehensive model incorporating these uncertainties is formulated to capture realistic engineering scenarios. To ensure robustness and adaptability, an integral sliding surface is constructed, followed by a rigorous analysis of the formation tracking error dynamics. A variable-gain disturbance observer is proposed to estimate the lumped disturbance and fault-induced input error using measured velocity and commanded input effectively. Leveraging information from neighboring agents and the leader, a distributed adaptive sliding mode fault-tolerant controller is synthesized. By utilizing the Lyapunov stability theorem, sufficient conditions for asymptotic tracking under smooth feedback are rigorously derived. Theoretical analysis demonstrates that under the proposed adaptive fault-tolerant control protocol, all follower agents asymptotically achieve the desired formation as t→∞. Numerical simulations are provided to validate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed approach.