Finite-time observers for tracking control of multi-agent systems

This paper is devoted to the finite-time tracking problem for multi-agent systems, where the control inputs are required to be bounded and the velocities are not available for feedback. An effective framework through defining a class of coordinated saturation functions is introduced, under which both a one-order finite-time observer and a high-order finite-time observer are constructed. By applying the homogeneous theory for stability analysis, it is proven that all the states of the followers can converge to that of the leader in finite time. Numerical simulations are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of our control protocols.