Certainty Equivalence, Separation Principle, and Cooperative Output Regulation of Multi-Agent Systems by Distributed Observer Approach

TL;DR

This paper generalizes the cooperative output regulation problem for linear multi-agent systems, introduces a more comprehensive distributed observer, and simplifies the proof of key results by leveraging the separation and certainty equivalence principles.

Contribution

It presents a more general formulation of the problem, a broader distributed observer, and a simplified proof approach based on classical control principles.

Findings

Unified framework for cooperative output regulation

Generalized distributed observer design

Simplified proof methodology

Abstract

The cooperative output regulation problem of linear multi-agent systems was formulated and studied by the distributed observer approach in [20, 21]. Since then, several variants and extensions have been proposed, and the technique of the distributed observer has also been applied to such problems as formation, rendezvous, flocking, etc. In this chapter, we will first present a more general formulation of the cooperative output regulation problem for linear multi-agent systems that includes some existing versions of the cooperative output regulation problem as special cases. Then, we will describe a more general distributed observer. Finally, we will simplify the proof of the main results by more explicitly utilizing the separation principle and the certainty equivalence principle.