This study focuses on the design of fixed-time consensus for first-order multi-agent systems with unknown inherent non-linear dynamics. A distributed control protocol, based on local information, is proposed to ensure the convergence of the tracking errors in finite time. Some conditions are derived to select the controller gains in order to obtain a prescribed convergence time regardless of the initial conditions. Simulations are performed to validate the theoretical results.

This paper focuses on the design of fixed-time consensus for multiple unicycle-type mobile agents. A distributed switched strategy, based on local information, is proposed to solve the leader-follower consensus problem for multiple nonholonomic agents in chained form. The switching times and the prescribed convergence time are explicitly given regardless of the initial conditions. Simulation results highlight the efficiency of the proposed method.

In this paper, decentralized motion planning and scheduling of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) in a flexible manufacturing system (FMS) is proposed. A motion planner is combined with a scheduler allowing each AGV to update its destination resource during navigation in order to complete the transported product. The proposed strategy is based on two steps. The first step consists in planning a presumed trajectory to avoid collision conflicts previously detected by a central supervisor, enabling more appropriate decentralized scheduling by AGVs. The presumed trajectories, which represent the intentions of AGVs, are then exchanged with neighboring AGVs. The second step uses the presumed trajectories of neighbors to compute a collisionfree trajectory according to the priority policy. Numerical and experimental results are provided to show the pertinence and the feasibility of the proposed strategy.

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The emergence of Cyber Physical System has dramatically impacted the use of traditionally centralized control system in responding to unexpected events. Rush order is quite common unexpected event in the current dynamic market characteristics and has significant perturbing ability to a centrally predictive schedule. This paper is aimed to propose a Consensus algorithm for Multi-agent based Manufacturing system (CoMM) to control the rush order and henceforth minimize a makespan. Consensus is an algorithmic procedure applied in control theory which allows convergence of state between locally autonomous agents collaborating for their common goal. Leader-Follower communication approach was used among the multi-agent to deal with the perturbing event. Each agent decides when to broadcast its state to neighbor agents and the controlling decision depends on the behavior of this state. The consensus algorithm is initially modeled by networking all contributing agents. After this, it is validated with simulation experiment based on academic full-sized application platform called TRACILOGIS platform. The results showed that the consensus algorithm has significantly minimized the impact of rush order on makespan of manufacturing orders launched on a system.

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It is now accepted that using multi-agent systems (MAS) improve the reactivity to treat perturbation(s) within flexible manufacturing system. Intelligent algorithms shall be used to address these perturbation(s) and all smart decision entities within their environment have to continuously negotiate until their common and final goal is achieved. This paper proposes a negotiation-based control approach to deal with variability on a manufacturing system. It has initially formulated and modeled an environment in which all contributing entities or agents operate, communicate, and interact with each other productively. Then after, simulation and applicability implementation experiments on the basis of full-sized academic experimental platform have been conducted to validate the proposed control approach. Product and resource entities negotiate considering different key performance measures in order to set best priority-based product sequencing. This has been done with expectations that the applicability of the negotiation-based decision-making will be more adaptable to deal with perturbation(s) than another alternative decision-making approach called pure reactive control approach. The result showed that negotiation among the decisional entities has brought significant improvement in reducing makespan and hence conveyed better global performance of a manufacturing system.

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