Decentralized Control
Several real-world large-scale systems can be viewed as
interconnections of linear/nonlinear subsystems with constraints on
information flow between the subsystems. We have addressed the
decentralized control problem for large-scale systems under various
sets of assumptions on the subsystem structures and interconnection
topologies. We have also applied these results to a variety of
large-scale systems including power networks, smart structures, and
satellite formations. Our results on nonlinear control techniques have
enabled us to weaken the required assumptions on the structures of the
individual subsystems and also on the interconnection (or coupling)
among the subsystems. We have also extended the results to include
adaptations to compensate for unknown system parameters and also to
provide robustness to uncertain terms and appended nonlinear
dynamics. Furthermore, we have investigated techniques to achieve
decentralized attenuation of disturbance inputs and provided explicit
guaranteed bounds on the disturbance attenuation along with tuning
strategies to achieve desired disturbance attenuation properties
through the proper choice of controller parameters. Decentralization
of the control may be achieved both through a centralized or a
decentralized design of the decentralized controllers. In our
research, both strategies have been utilized.
