Distributed estimation of nonlinear systems
In a classical distributed framework, we present a novel distributed observer for genuinely nonlinear
continuous-time plants. A network of sensors monitors a multiple-outputs plant. Each sensor measures
only a portion of the plant’s outputs, and the sensing capability is different from sensor to sensor.
The assumption of strongly connected digraph on the underlying sensor network ensures robustness
and direct communication paths between nodes. Moreover, incremental homogeneity assumptions
on the plant embrace a very large class of nonlinear systems for which a distributed observer
can be designed. The distributed observer consists of local observers associated with each sensor,
asymptotically estimating the entire state of the plant only by using the local sensing capability and
information exchanged through the communication network. Numerical simulations on a network
of interconnected Van Der Pol oscillators confirms theoretical results. Robustness and switchi