The data-driven output regulation problem via internal model principle has been studied by both policy-iteration method and value-iteration method. But the results were limited to single-input single-output linear systems with zero input-output transmission matrix. Recently, we have extended the existing results to multi-input multi-output linear systems with nonzero input-output transmission matrix and improved the algorithm by value-iteration method. Since the policy-iteration method is simpler and has a much faster convergence speed than the value-iteration method, in this paper, we further establish the results parallel to the value-iteration work by the policy-iteration method. Compared with the existing policy-iteration results, we are able to handle multi-input multi-output linear systems with nonzero input-output transmission matrix. Moreover, we further improve the existing policy-iteration algorithm by significantly reducing the computational cost and weakening the solvability conditions. A numerical example is used to illustrate the advantages of the improved algorithm.

In this paper, we investigate the distributed Nash equilibrium (NE) seeking problem for aggregative games with multiple uncertain Euler–Lagrange (EL) systems over jointly connected and weight-balanced switching networks. The designed distributed controller consists of two parts: a dynamic average consensus part that asymptotically reproduces the unknown NE, and an adaptive reference-tracking module responsible for steering EL systems’ positions to track a desired trajectory. The generalized Barbalat’s Lemma is used to overcome the discontinuity of the closed-loop system caused by the switching networks. The proposed algorithm is illustrated by a sensor network deployment problem.

The distributed observer for a rigid body leader system plays a key role in solving the leader-following consensus problem of multiple rigid body systems. Recently, the authors of this paper established an event-triggered distributed observer over jointly connected networks, which consumes less communication and actuator energy compared with the analog distributed observer. However, a drawback of this event-triggered distributed observer is that the upper bounds of two key design parameters were only shown to exist without giving an explicit estimate of the upper bounds. In this paper, by assuming that the communication network is acyclic, we further show that these two design parameters can take any positive value by choosing other parameters appropriately. Furthermore, we will apply the event-triggered distributed observer to solve the leader-following consensus problem of multiple uncertain rigid body systems.

In this paper, we study the leader-following formation tracking problem for multiple quadrotor helicopters via the distributed observer approach. In contrast with existing results in the literature, our approach offers the following features. First, our results apply to jointly connected switching communication networks, which are more general than static communication networks. Second, our control law is fully distributed in the sense that we do not assume that every vehicle can access the information of the desired formation trajectory. Third, with the virtual leader system being modeled by an exosystem, our control law can accomplish the formation tracking for a large class of leader’s trajectories. Two numerical examples are used to illustrate our design.