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Distributed Control Multi-Agent Systems

Distributed Control Multi-Agent Systems is a research topic within Computer Networks and Communications. Science Explorer counts 30k research works in it since 1965. 29.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the study of distributed multi-agent coordination, consensus, and control, covering topics such as cooperative control, formation control, swarm robotics, leader-follower strategies, event-triggered control, sensor networks, and collective behavior in animal groups.

  • Consensus
  • Multi-Agent Systems
  • Cooperative Control
  • Formation Control
  • Distributed Optimization
  • Swarm Robotics
  • Leader-Follower
  • Event-Triggered Control
  • Sensor Networks
  • Collective Behavior
Research works
30k
fractional, since 1965
In the world top 10%
8.8k
per year above
Top-10% rate
29.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+53%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Distributed Control Multi-Agent Systems research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (5.5k and 679 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China 5.5k works
  2. 2 United States 679 works
  3. 3 India 300 works
  4. 4 Japan 184 works
  5. 5 South Korea 177 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 172 works
  7. 7 Italy 165 works
  8. 8 Canada 165 works
  9. 9 France 145 works
  10. 10 Australia 119 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 72.5%United States: 8.9%India: 3.9%Japan: 2.4%6 others listed: 12.3%72%largest
China5,540 · 72.5%United States679 · 8.9%India300 · 3.9%Japan184 · 2.4%6 others listed943 · 12.3%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Distributed Control Multi-Agent Systems research?

By volume in 2022–2025, Beihang University publishes the most Distributed Control Multi-Agent Systems research, followed by Northwestern Polytechnical University and Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beihang University China 194 works
  2. 2 Northwestern Polytechnical University China 167 works
  3. 3 Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics China 154 works
  4. 4 Southeast University China 135 works
  5. 5 Northeastern University China 132 works
  6. 6 Beijing Institute of Technology China 124 works
  7. 7 Harbin Institute of Technology China 123 works
  8. 8 National University of Defense Technology China 107 works
  9. 9 Harbin Engineering University China 94 works
  10. 10 University of Electronic Science and Technology of China China 94 works

Who are the leading researchers in Distributed Control Multi-Agent Systems?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Distributed Control Multi-Agent Systems include H. Vincent Poor, Alex Pentland and Rui Zhang.

  1. 1 H. Vincent Poor 9.5k citations
  2. 2 Alex Pentland 6k citations
  3. 3 Rui Zhang 6k citations
  4. 4 Mohamed‐Slim Alouini 5.9k citations
  5. 5 Guanrong Chen 5.4k citations
  6. 6 Peng Shi 5k citations
  7. 7 Zhu Han 4.7k citations
  8. 8 Georgios B. Giannakis 4.6k citations
  9. 9 Dusit Niyato 4.5k citations
  10. 10 Marco Dorigo 4.5k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

Where is Distributed Control Multi-Agent Systems research done?

The largest centres of Distributed Control Multi-Agent Systems research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Nanjing (China), Xi'an (China) and Shanghai (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Shenyang, Jinzhou and Huangshi.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 862 works
  2. 2 Nanjing China 579 works
  3. 3 Xi'an China 369 works
  4. 4 Shanghai China 357 works
  5. 5 Harbin China 267 works
  6. 6 Changsha China 201 works
  7. 7 Wuhan China 196 works
  8. 8 Guangzhou China 194 works
  9. 9 Shenyang China 173 works
  10. 10 Chongqing China 170 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Shenyang21.3 works62×
  2. JinzhouCN · 108.5 works49×
  3. HuangshiCN · 36.5 works43×
  4. LinyiCN · 23.3 works18×
  5. QufuCN · 27.9 works16×
  6. QinhuangdaoCN · 52.7 works15×
← less than its size predictsmore →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Distributed Control Multi-Agent Systems than the world average.

See Distributed Control Multi-Agent Systems on the map

Where is the best place to study Distributed Control Multi-Agent Systems?

Among universities, judged by research, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Northwestern Polytechnical University and Northeastern University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%60%mean 33.03%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics: 154, 30.2%Northwestern Polytechnical University: 167, 27.5%Northeastern University: 132, 36.3%Texas A&M University at Qatar: 9, 49.1%National University of Defense Technology: 107, 29.8%Southeast University: 135, 35.6%Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications: 63, 32.6%Beihang University: 194, 28.1%Guangdong University of Technology: 55, 30.4%East China University of Science and Technology: 52, 30.7%Texas A&M University…Northeastern Univers…Nanjing University o…Northwestern Polytec…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics China 71.830.2%19.8×154 +214.4%
2Northwestern Polytechnical University China 71.527.5%16.7×167 +205.7%
3Northeastern University China 71.436.3%17.2×132 +165.0%
4Texas A&M University at Qatar Qatar 70.749.1%36.0×9 +248.7%
5National University of Defense Technology China 68.429.8%15.8×107 +208.9%
6Southeast University China 68.035.6%11.5×135 +90.3%
7Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications China 67.332.6%16.8×63 +208.6%
8Beihang University China 66.928.1%20.1×194 +106.5%
9Guangdong University of Technology China 66.030.4%11.5×55 +695.4%
10East China University of Science and Technology China 65.230.7%11.9×52 +214.3%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Distributed Control Multi-Agent Systems research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 53% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Distributed Control Multi-Agent Systems.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.