This paper investigates the distributed event-triggered fixed-time time-varying formation control problem for a class of nonlinear multi-agent systems subject to model uncertainties and unknown time-varying disturbances. To address issues in traditional formation control methods, such as convergence time dependence on initial states and high communication resource consumption, a distributed cooperative control scheme integrating fixed-time control, event-triggered mechanisms, and dynamic surface control is proposed. Firstly, a fixed-time disturbance observer is designed to accurately estimate the agents’ lumped disturbances within a fixed time independent of initial conditions. Secondly, by incorporating dynamic surface control techniques, a distributed event-triggered formation control law is constructed, effectively reducing communication and computational resource usage. Furthermore, using Lyapunov stability theory, the closed-loop system is proven to exhibit practical fixed-time stability, and the existence of a positive lower bound for triggering intervals precludes Zeno behavior. Finally, numerical simulations validate the superiority of the proposed method in terms of convergence speed, control accuracy, and resource efficiency. This research provides an efficient, robust, and resource-friendly solution for cooperative control of multi-agent systems in complex environments.
Yue et al. (Sun,) studied this question.