Exponential Consensus and Flocking in Multi-Agent Systems with Infinite Fading Memory

Abstract

In this paper, we study the emergent collective dynamics of multi-agent systems driven by infinite distributed fading memory of Volterra type. We establish a unified theoretical framework covering both first-order opinion consensus dynamics and second-order velocity alignment flocking kinematics. By introducing Dafermos past-history transformations, the governing integro-differential systems are reformulated into dynamical systems on an extended product Hilbert spaces. For first-order dynamics, we prove that fading memory inherently provides a hidden dissipative mechanism, guaranteeing unconditional global exponential consensus with or without instantaneous communication forces. For second-order dynamics, we obtain unconditional exponential flocking for the pure fading memory system and we give a sufficient condition for flocking when an instantaneous interaction is also present. In particular, this condition is always satisfied, namely the flocking occurs unconditionally, when the influence function has a divergent tail.