H[subscript 2]-optimal decentralized control over posets: A state space solution for state-feedback

Abstract

We develop a complete state-space solution to ℋ[subscript 2]-optimal decentralized control of poset-causal systems with state-feedback. Our solution is based on the exploitation of a key separability property of the problem, that enables an efficient computation of the optimal controller by solving a small number of uncoupled standard Riccati equations. Our approach gives important insight into the structure of optimal controllers, such as degree bounds that depend on the structure of the poset. A novel element in our state-space characterization of the controller is a remarkable pair of transfer functions, that belong to the incidence algebra of the poset, are inverses of each other, and are intimately related to estimation of the state along the different paths on the poset.