Leader-Following Connectivity-Preserving Consensus of Multiple Euler–Lagrange Systems With Disturbances

The leader-following consensus problem of multiple uncertain Euler–Lagrange systems (MELSs) with disturbance is investigated and each agent has a limited communication range in this article. The time-varying topology is state-dependent as the relative distance between the agents changes during the movement. Therefore, the initial connectivity cannot be guaranteed throughout the evolution and the dynamical characteristics of MELSs is more complex which make the consensus problem more challenging. In addition, some of the followers are not within the leader's communication range. Firstly, to estimate the leader's velocity, we design a distributed observer. Then, we propose a sliding mode protocol with a novel potential function to maintain the global reachable of the leader. Via numerical simulation, the theory's effectiveness is demonstrated.