Adaptive distributed super-twisting sliding mode-like control for the bipartite average consensus in heterogeneous uncertain nonlinear directed MASs

This paper addresses the bipartite average consensus problem in heterogeneous uncertain nonlinear Multi-Agent Systems (MASs) sharing information over directed communication graph topologies. Two distributed sliding mode based controls, also embedding an adaptive mechanism for agent nonlinearities estimation, are proposed, namely: a discontinuous integral sliding mode; a novel continuous super-twisting-like strategy which avoids the inconvenient chattering phenomenon and any setbacks due to possible singularities. Both the adaptive mechanisms are properly derived by exploiting Lyapunov theory. Exemplary numerical analysis assesses the robustness and the effectiveness of the proposed solutions.