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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. 9.8% 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%
3k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.8%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+30%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
73% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Distributed Control Multi-Agent Systems

Which countries lead Distributed Control Multi-Agent Systems research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (6.5k and 770 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 6.5k works
  2. 2 United States 770 works
  3. 3 India 342 works
  4. 4 Japan 200 works
  5. 5 South Korea 199 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 195 works
  7. 7 Italy 186 works
  8. 8 Canada 179 works
  9. 9 France 162 works
  10. 10 Germany 135 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: 73.2%United States: 8.7%India: 3.9%Japan: 2.3%6 others listed: 11.9%73%largest
China6,475 · 73.2%United States770 · 8.7%India342 · 3.9%Japan200 · 2.3%6 others listed1,056 · 11.9%

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

Which institutions lead Distributed Control Multi-Agent Systems research?

By volume in 2022-now, 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-now

  1. 1 Beihang UniversityChina 215 works
  2. 2 Northwestern Polytechnical UniversityChina 185 works
  3. 3 Nanjing University of Aeronautics and AstronauticsChina 175 works
  4. 4 Northeastern UniversityChina 173 works
  5. 5 Southeast UniversityChina 158 works
  6. 6 Harbin Institute of TechnologyChina 140 works
  7. 7 Beijing Institute of TechnologyChina 136 works
  8. 8 National University of Defense TechnologyChina 119 works
  9. 9 University of Electronic Science and Technology of ChinaChina 106 works
  10. 10 Nanjing University of Science and TechnologyChina 103 works

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

The most-cited researchers publishing on Distributed Control Multi-Agent Systems include Jian Sun, Xiaogang Wang and Kai You Wang.

  1. 1 Jian Sun 281k citations
  2. 2 Xiaogang Wang China 260k citations
  3. 3 Kai You Wang China 224k citations
  4. 4 Harry Eugene Stanley United States 198k citations
  5. 5 Paul M. Thompson United States 196k citations
  6. 6 Michael I. Jordan United States 182k citations
  7. 7 Shu Li France 169k citations
  8. 8 H. Vincent Poor United States 165k citations
  9. 9 Stephen Boyd United States 142k citations

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

What are the most cited papers in Distributed Control Multi-Agent Systems?

The most cited paper in Distributed Control Multi-Agent Systems is "Consensus Problems in Networks of Agents With Switching Topology and Time-Delays" (Reza Olfati‐Saber, Richard M. Murray, 2004), with 12,915 citations. Next come "Consensus and Cooperation in Networked Multi-Agent Systems" (10,551) and "Coordination of groups of mobile autonomous agents using nearest neighbor rules" (8,471).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Consensus Problems in Networks of Agents With Switching Topology and Time-Delays Reza Olfati‐Saber, Richard M. Murray · IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control Sep 2004 12,915
2 Consensus and Cooperation in Networked Multi-Agent Systems Reza Olfati‐Saber, J.A. Fax, Richard M. Murray · Proceedings of the IEEE 2007 10,551
3 Coordination of groups of mobile autonomous agents using nearest neighbor rules Ali Jadbabaie, Jie Lin, A. Stephen Morse · IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control Open access Jun 2003 8,471
4 Consensus seeking in multiagent systems under dynamically changing interaction topologies Wei Ren, Randal W. Beard · IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control May 2005 6,633
5 Flocking for Multi-Agent Dynamic Systems: Algorithms and Theory Reza Olfati‐Saber · IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control Mar 2006 5,074
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Distributed Control Multi-Agent Systems research done?

The largest centres of Distributed Control Multi-Agent Systems research in 2022-now 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-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 967 works
  2. 2 NanjingChina 665 works
  3. 3 Xi'anChina 417 works
  4. 4 ShanghaiChina 404 works
  5. 5 HarbinChina 302 works
  6. 6 WuhanChina 232 works
  7. 7 ChangshaChina 226 works
  8. 8 GuangzhouChina 222 works
  9. 9 ShenyangChina 201 works
  10. 10 ChongqingChina 190 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Shenyang23.7 works62×
  2. JinzhouCN · 121.0 works48×
  3. HuangshiCN · 41.6 works42×
  4. LinyiCN · 25.9 works17×
  5. QufuCN · 30.7 works16×
  6. QinhuangdaoCN · 62.6 works15×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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, Northeastern University, Southeast University and Bohai 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%mean 19.61%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Bohai UniversityLiaoning University …Northeastern Univers…Southeast University
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Northeastern UniversityChina 71.721.0%21.9×173 +30.9%
2Southeast UniversityChina 68.015.7%12.1×158 +25.6%
3Bohai UniversityChina 66.829.0%50.2×45 +105.9%
4Liaoning University of TechnologyChina 66.622.4%119.6×76 +329.3%
5Beihang UniversityChina 65.211.5%22.2×216 +43.5%
6Dalian Maritime UniversityChina 64.818.9%29.6×95 +63.8%
7Korea UniversitySouth Korea 63.836.7%3.2×17 +35.3%
8Nanjing University of Aeronautics and AstronauticsChina 63.312.6%22.5×175 +153.6%
9Northwestern Polytechnical UniversityChina 62.211.1%18.4×185 +58.5%
10City University of Hong KongChina 62.217.2%7.5×38 -0.2%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Distributed Control Multi-Agent Systems, country by country

Is Distributed Control Multi-Agent Systems research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 30% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Distributed Control Multi-Agent Systems.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

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

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Distributed Control Multi-Agent Systems as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.040% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Distributed Control Multi-Agent Systems0.043% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Distributed Control Multi-Agent Systems over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Distributed Control Multi-Agent Systems9.6% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

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.

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