%0 Electronic Article %A Z. Li %A Z. Duan %A G. Chen %K protocol design %K observer type consensus protocol %K dynamic consensus %K linear multiagent system %K directed spanning tree %X This study concerns the consensus of a network of agents with general linear or linearised dynamics, whose communication topology contains a directed spanning tree. An observer-type consensus protocol based on the relative outputs of the neighbouring agents is adopted. The notion of consensus region is introduced, as a measure for the robustness of the protocol and as a basis for the protocol design. For neutrally stable agents, it is shown that there exists a protocol achieving consensus together with a consensus region that is the entire open right-half plane if and only if each agent is stabilisable and detectable. An algorithm is further presented for constructing such a protocol. For consensus with a prescribed convergence speed, a multi-step protocol design procedure is given, which yields an unbounded consensus region and at the same time maintains a favourable decoupling property. Finally, the consensus algorithms are extended to solve the formation control problems. %@ 1751-8644 %T Dynamic consensus of linear multi-agent systems %B IET Control Theory & Applications %D January 2011 %V 5 %N 1 %P 19-28 %I Institution of Engineering and Technology %U https://digital-library.theiet.org/;jsessionid=1k9k8qs7iqka5.x-iet-live-01content/journals/10.1049/iet-cta.2009.0466 %G EN