Detectability of distributed consensus-based observer networks: An elementary analysis and extensions

This paper continues the study of local detectability and observability requirements on components of distributed observers networks to ensure detectability properties of the network. First, we present a sketch of an elementary proof of the known result equating the multiplicity of the zero eigenvalue of the Laplace matrix of a digraph to the number of its maximal reachable subgraphs. Unlike the existing algebraic proof, we use a direct analysis of the graph topology. This result is then used in the second part of the paper to extend our previous results which connect the detectability of an observer network with corresponding local detectability and observability properties of its node observers. The proposed extension allows for nonidentical matrices to be used in the interconnections.Comment: Accepted for presentation at the 2014 Australian Control Conference, Canberra Australia, Nov 201

On distributed pinning observers for a network of dynamical systems

ArticleThis is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from IEEE via the DOI in this record.In this paper, a distributed observer structure is proposed to estimate the states of a large scale network of semi-linear systems interconnected by a positive, time varying coupling strength. The distributed observer comprises distinct sub-observers which require only local node level information and exchange their local state estimates with their ‘neighbouring’ observers. The key idea here is to use a minimum number, or at least relatively few, measurements from the network being monitored to reduce the sensor requirements. The problem is formulated as a two stage LMI optimization problem