Clustering-based average state observer design for large-scale network systems

This paper addresses the aggregated monitoring problem for large-scale network systems with a few dedicated sensors. Full state estimation of such systems is often infeasible due to unobservability and/or computational infeasibility; therefore, through clustering and aggregation, a tractable representation of a network system, called a projected network system, is obtained for designing a minimum-order average state observer. This observer estimates the average states of the clusters, which are identified under explicit consideration of estimation error. Moreover, given the clustering, the proposed observer design algorithm exploits the structure of the estimation error dynamics to achieve computational tractability. Simulations show that the computation of the proposed algorithm is significantly faster than the usual H₂/H_∞ observer design techniques. On the other hand, compromise on the estimation error characteristics is shown to be marginal.