Distributed Observers for LTI Systems with Finite Convergence Time: A Parameter Estimation-based Approach

Abstract: A novel approach to solve the problem of distributed state estimation of linear time-invariant systems is proposed in this paper. It relies on the application of parameter estimation-based observers, where the state observation task is reformulated as a parameter estimation problem. In contrast with existing results our solution achieves convergence in finite-time, without injection of high gain, and imposes very weak assumptions on the communication graph---namely the existence of a Hamiltonian walk. The scheme is shown to be robust vis-\'a-vis external disturbances and communication delays.