Recent Developments in Control and Optimization for Multi-Agent Systems

Dear Colleagues,

Multi-agent systems are composed of multiple autonomous agents that interact with each other and their environment to achieve individual or collective goals. The study of these systems spans across various fields, such as artificial intelligence, robotics, economics, and social sciences. Researchers investigate multi-agents to understand the dynamics of agent interactions, the emergence of collective behavior, and the optimization of system-level objectives. The complexity and interdependencies within multi-agent systems make them an intriguing and challenging area of research with broad applications in real-world scenarios. Such systems can exhibit complex behaviors and dynamics, as the interactions between agents can give rise to nonlinear and unpredictable system-level phenomena. Understanding and managing the complexity of multi-agent systems represent a significant research area. Cooperative control is crucial in the investigation of multi-agent systems; it includes consensus, formation control, containment control, and so on.

The objective of this Special Issue is to showcase articles that highlight innovative advancements and outcomes in the theory and implementation of control and optimization algorithms for multi-agent systems. The issue will specifically concentrate on advanced and unconventional approaches, introducing noteworthy innovations in both theoretical foundations and practical applications.

Original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

(1) Multi-agent systems and their applications;

(2) Consensus of multi-agent systems;

(3) Formation control of multi-agent systems;

(4) Optimization techniques for multi-agent systems;

(5)  Reinforcement Learning for multi-agent systems;

(6) Bipartite consensus for multi-agent systems;

(7) Cluster consensus for multi-agent systems.

Dr. Parivallal Arumugam
Dr. Ramasamy Kavikumar
Dr. S. A. Karthick
Prof. Dr. Saša Mladenović
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Electronics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• robust control
• multi-agent systems
• cooperative control
• graph theory
• consensus
• formation control