Decentralized controller design for consensus in nonlinear multi-agent systems with input delay

In this paper a fixed-order dynamic output feedback controller for consensus of nonlinear multi-agent systems with input delay has been proposed via linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). The overall system is considered to be decentralized and each agent can only receive information from its neighbors. To guarantee consensus in this method, first the multi agent system should be augmented. Then, based on the Laplacian graph of the agents and considering conditions on nonlinear terms, the consensus problem is reduced to the stabilization problem of an equivalent state-delayed system. Applying special conditions on symmetric positive definite matrices in a Lyapunov quadratic function, result in an LMI form and output feedback controller parameters can be obtained. Finally, a numerical example is presented to show the applicability and effectiveness of the proposed controller.