A Hybrid Observer for a Distributed Linear System with a Changing Neighbor Graph

A hybrid observer is described for estimating the state of an $m>0$ channel, $n$-dimensional, continuous-time, distributed linear system of the form $\dot{x} = Ax,\;y_i = C_ix,\;i\in\{1,2,\ldots, m\}$. The system's state $x$ is simultaneously estimated by $m$ agents assuming each agent $i$ senses $y_i$ and receives appropriately defined data from each of its current neighbors. Neighbor relations are characterized by a time-varying directed graph $\mathbb{N}(t)$ whose vertices correspond to agents and whose arcs depict neighbor relations. Agent $i$ updates its estimate $x_i$ of $x$ at "event times" $t_1,t_2,\ldots$ using a local observer and a local parameter estimator. The local observer is a continuous time linear system whose input is $y_i$ and whose output $w_i$ is an asymptotically correct estimate of $L_ix$ where $L_i$ a matrix with kernel equaling the unobservable space of $(C_i,A)$. The local parameter estimator is a recursive algorithm designed to estimate, prior to each event time $t_j$, a constant parameter $p_j$ which satisfies the linear equations $w_k(t_j-\tau) = L_kp_j+\mu_k(t_j-\tau),\;k\in\{1,2,\ldots,m\}$, where $\tau$ is a small positive constant and $\mu_k$ is the state estimation error of local observer $k$. Agent $i$ accomplishes this by iterating its parameter estimator state $z_i$, $q$ times within the interval $[t_j-\tau, t_j)$, and by making use of the state of each of its neighbors' parameter estimators at each iteration. The updated value of $x_i$ at event time $t_j$ is then $x_i(t_j) = e^{A\tau}z_i(q)$. Subject to the assumptions that (i) the neighbor graph $\mathbb{N}(t)$ is strongly connected for all time, (ii) the system whose state is to be estimated is jointly observable, (iii) $q$ is sufficiently large, it is shown that each estimate $x_i$ converges to $x$ exponentially fast as $t\rightarrow \infty$ at a rate which can be controlled.