Decentralized control strategy for the implementation of cooperative dynamic behaviors in networked systems

Decentralized control of networked systems has been widely investigated in the literature, with the aim of obtaining coordinated emerging behaviors (e.g. synchronization, swarming, coverage, formation control) by means of local interaction. In this paper we consider the possibility of injecting external inputs into the networked system, in order to obtain more complex cooperative behaviors. Specifically, we introduce a strategy that makes it possible to control the overall state of the networked system by directly controlling only a subset of the networked agents, namely the leaders. Exploiting local interaction rules, it is possible to define the inputs for the leaders in such a way that each follower is forced to track a desired periodic setpoint.