State Estimation of a Linear System on a Network subject to Sporadic Measurements and Time-Delays

This paper proposes a hybrid observer for state estimation over a network. The network provides delayed measurements of the output of the plant at time instants that are not necessarily periodic and are accompanied by timestamps provided by a clock that synchronizes with the clock of the observer in finite time. The proposed observer, along with the plant and communication network, are modeled by a hybrid dynamical system that has two timers, a logic variable, and two memory states to capture the mechanisms involved in the events associated with sampling and arrival of information, as well as the logic in the estimation algorithm. The hybrid model also includes a generic clock synchronization scheme to cope with a mismatch between the clocks at the plant and the observer. Convergence properties of the estimation error of the system are shown analytically and supported by numerical examples