Reset observer-based containment protocol via event-triggered strategy for multi-agent networks against aperiodic DoS attacks

This article investigates the containment control problem for multi-agent systems (MASs) that are affected by aperiodic denial-of-service attacks using event-triggered strategies (ETSs) in a directed graph. To overcome the limitation of the Luenberger observer, which requires a trade-off between rise time and overshoot, we design a reset observer with improved error convergence performance and more reasonable reset conditions to estimate the states of the MASs. To conserve communication resources, we introduce an ETS into the reset observer-based containment controller. To avoid Zeno behavior, a trigger known as the “Zeno-free trigger” is introduced, which prevents Zeno behavior by setting a fixed triggering interval as the lower bound of the event-triggered interval. Finally, the effectiveness of the designed protocol is demonstrated through a case involving a formation of unmanned air vehicles (UAVs). By comparing the reset observer with the Luenberger observer, the superior performance of the reset observer is demonstrated.