Young Teams grant: Observer design for structured distributed dynamic systems

Power systems, traffic and communication networks, irrigation systems, hydropower valleys, or smart grids are composed of structured interconnections of lower-dimensional subsystems. To monitor such systems, one has to know the values of the variables in the system. Since in general not all these variables can be measured, they must be estimated, based on the system model and available measurements. However, there is no general method to design estimators for nonlinear systems. The challenge of designing an estimator becomes even more difficult if the system is distributed.

This project aims to develop novel methods and algorithms to estimate the states and thereby monitor structured distributed systems. In order to efficiently address the nonlinear dynamics, a Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy model framework is used, and to efficiently represent the structures, graph theory will be employed. Consequently, a novel framework that efficiently combines graph theory and nonlinear systems’ theory is realized. The first and foremost contribution of this research is fundamental, by developing generic methods for observer design. The research also addresses monitoring of applications such as large-scale industrial processes, traffic networks, and energy or water distribution networks, but also smaller-scale systems, such as mobile robots and robot manipulators.

See also the webpage of this project.