Motion Synchronization Control of Distributed Multisubsystems With Invariant Local Natural Dynamics

This paper addresses a new control strategy for synchronizing two or more distributed and interconnected dynamic systems having communication time delays. The proposed strategy that uses the Smith predictor principle and delay information not only achieves synchronization but also preserves the natural local dynamics of each subsystem without being affected by the feedback nature of control. The proposed synchronization scheme is generalized to cases that deal with an arbitrary number of heterogeneous interconnected systems through dynamic scaling of input under a ring-type network configuration. In addition, possibility of applying the proposed scheme to nonlinear systems is discussed. Simulation and experimental tests are conducted to validate theoretical results.