Distributed output‐feedback sampled‐data control of nonlinear multi‐agent systems.

We study the distributed output‐feedback tracking control problem by linear sampled‐data control for nonlinear multi‐agent systems with unmeasurable states in this paper. Noting that sampled‐data control can effectively reduce implementation cost and time, we develop a novel linear sampled‐data high‐gain homogeneous domination control strategy by integrating backstepping method and high‐gain homogeneous domination method into sampled‐data control. A series of linear sampled‐data output‐feedback controllers and reduced‐order observers are designed to ensure that the output tracking errors can be tuned arbitrarily small while all states of the closed‐loop system are globally bounded. A numerical example is given to verify the effectiveness of the sampled‐data strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]