Distributed Estimation from Relative and Absolute Measurements

Wilbert Samuel Rossi (1) , Paolo Frasca (2) , Fabio Fagnani (3)

1 University of Twente
2 NECS - Networked Controlled Systems
3 Polito - Politecnico di Torino = Polytechnic of Turin

This note defines the problem of least-squares distributed estimation from relative and absolute measurements, by encoding the set of measurements in a weighted undirected graph. The role of its topology is studied by an electrical interpretation, which easily allows distinguishing between topologies that lead to "small" or "large" estimation errors. The least-squares problem is solved by a distributed gradient algorithm: the computed solution is approximately optimal after a number of steps that does not depend on the size of the problem or on the graph-theoretic properties of its encoding. This fact indicates that only a limited cooperation between the sensors is necessary.

Mots clés: Index Terms-Sensor Networks; Distributed Estimation; Op- timization algorithms; Cooperative control

Domaines: Automatique / Robotique; Optimisation et contrôle [math.OC]

Wilbert Samuel Rossi, Paolo Frasca, Fabio Fagnani. Distributed Estimation from Relative and Absolute Measurements. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 2017, 62 (12), pp.6385-6391. ⟨10.1109/TAC.2017.2661400⟩. ⟨hal-01614098⟩