Disturbance observer-based sliding mode control for multi-agent systems with mismatched uncertainties

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to develop sliding mode control (SMC) methods for second-order multi-agent systems (MAS) in the presence of mismatched uncertainties. Design/methodology/approach Based on the disturbance observer (DOB), discontinuous and continuous sliding mode protocols are designed to achieve finite-time consensus in spite of the disturbances. Findings Compared with integral SMC, numerical simulation results show that the proposed control methods exhibit better performance with respect to reduction of chattering. Originality/value The main contributions are the following: MAS described with mismatched uncertainties are considered; both discontinuous and continuous sliding mode controllers are considered; with the proposed sliding mode controller, the desired sliding surface can be reached in finite time and the DOB is introduced in the controller to alleviate the chattering phenomenon.