Decentralized output synchronization of heterogeneous linear systems with fixed and switching topology via self-triggered communication

In this paper, we investigate a decentralized output synchronization problem of heterogeneous linear systems. Motivated by recent results in the literature, we develop a self-triggered output broadcasting policy for the interconnected systems. In other words, each system broadcasts its outputs only when necessary in order to achieve output synchronization. Consequently, the control signal of each system is updated based on currently available (but outdated) information received from the neighbors. These broadcasting time instants adapt to the current communication topology. For a fixed topology, our broadcasting policy yields global exponential output synchronization, and L_p-stable output synchronization in the presence of disturbances. Employing a converse Lyapunov theorem for impulsive systems, we provide an average dwell-time condition that yields disturbance-to-state stable output synchronization in case of switching topology. The proposed approach is applicable to directed and unbalanced communication topologies. Finally, our results are corroborated by numerical simulations.