Disturbance propagation in formation control problems: Information-theoretic bounds

Abstract:

There has recently been extensive interest in formation control problems, where the objective is to arrange autonomous agents in a predefined geometric structure while ensuring that the agents as a group achieve a predefined task. In this talk, we will present a performance limitation result similar to Bode’s integral formula in the setting of a platoon formation control problem. Here a group of vehicles proceeds on a line and the objective of the leading vehicle is to follow a specific reference trajectory, while the following vehicles aim to maintain a constant spacing with respect to their predecessors. By making use of information-theoretic techniques, we will present a lower bound to the integral of the sensitivity function of the position error at each vehicle with respect to a stochastic disturbance acting on the lead vehicle. We will discuss the tightness of the lower bound and several generalizations of the result, such as to a setup where the vehicles are allowed to communicate with each others via side information channels. Above all, the talk will showcase how information-theoretic techniques can lead to performance bounds in distributed control problems.

Presentation Slides

Biography:

Paolo Minero is Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. He received the Laurea degree (with highest honors) in Electrical Engineering from the Politecnico di Torino in 2003, the M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley in 2006, and the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of California at San Diego in 2010. Before joining the University of Notre Dame in 2011, he was a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California at San Diego. His research interests are in communication systems theory and include information theory, wireless communication, and control over networks.