Fully Distributed Dynamic Event-Triggered Observer-Based H∞ Consensus Control of Fractional-Order Multi-Agent Systems

Abstract

This paper investigates robust output-feedback consensus of linear fractional-order multi-agent systems under external disturbances and communication constraints. A fully distributed framework is developed by integrating local dynamic observers, fractional adaptive edge couplings, and dynamic event-triggered communication. The resulting protocol requires neither the network size nor algebraic connectivity. An explicit locally verifiable triggering condition is derived directly from the weighted broadcast-error term, while positivity of the fractional internal variable and Hölder continuity of Caputo trajectories are used to exclude Zeno behavior. A three-channel fractional bounded-real analysis characterizes the consensus, observer-to-coupling, and observer-to-output mappings and yields a generalized H∞ attenuation bound for the actual plant disagreement. In a six-agent benchmark, the proposed trigger requires 366 transmissions, compared with 3164 for a static trigger and 6000 for periodic communication, corresponding to reductions of 88.43% and 93.90%, respectively, with comparable consensus accuracy. Finite-energy disturbance tests, attenuation-certificate analysis, numerical sensitivity studies, and a fractional servo synchronization example further demonstrate the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed method.