Cooperative output regulation of multi-agent systems

In this paper, we will describe the cooperative output regulation problem for multi-agent systems. The formulation of this problem generalizes the leader-following consensus problem in the sense that the problem simultaneously addresses asymptotic tracking and disturbance rejection, accounts for model uncertainty, and accommodates a general leader system. Like the classical output regulation problem, this problem can be handled by the feedforward control approach and the internal model approach. These two approaches can also be used to handle other cooperative control problems of multi-agent systems such as formation, rendezvous, and flocking. We will also briefly overview some recent results on this problem, and point out some possible new avenues of this research problem.