Cooperative distributed tracking MPC for constrained linear systems: Theory and synthesis

This paper provides a framework for distributed tracking of piecewise constant references for a network of constrained linear systems which act cooperatively. It is shown how the tracking problem can be posed as a distributed optimization problem and a method for distributed synthesis of the control law is presented. In particular, the notion of a distributed invariant set for tracking is introduced, by means of which a distributed constrained tracking controller with stability guarantee can be defined. A systematic procedure for the synthesis of ellipsoidal terminal sets for tracking is proposed, whereas all synthesis steps can be carried out by distributed optimization and hence without any central coordination. The proposed framework, as well as its functionality and performance, are illustrated by means of a numerical example.