Optimized Backstepping-Based Containment Control for Multiagent Systems With Deferred Constraints Using a Universal Nonlinear Transformation

This article investigates an optimized containment control problem for multiagent systems (MASs), where all followers are subject to deferred full-state constraints. A universal nonlinear transformation is proposed for simultaneously handling the cases with and without constraints. Particularly, for the constrained case, initial values of states are flexibly managed to the midpoint between upper and lower boundaries by utilizing a state-shifting function, thus eliminating the initial restriction conditions. By deferred constraints, the state is forced to fall back into the restrictive boundaries within a preassigned time. A neural network (NN)-based reinforcement learning (RL) algorithm is executed under the identifier-critic–actor architecture, where the Hamilton-Jacobi–Bellman (HJB) equation is built in every subsystem to optimize control performance. For actor and critic NNs, updating laws are simplified, since the gradient descent method is performed based on a simple positive function rather than square of Bellman residual error. In view of the Lyapunov stability theorem and graph theory, it is proved that all signals are bounded and the outputs of followers can eventually enter into the convex hull constituted by leaders. Finally, simulations confirm the validity of the proposed approach.