Distributed Continuous-Time Control via System Level Synthesis

This paper designs H2 and H-infinity distributed controllers with local communication and local disturbance rejection. We propose a two-step procedure: first, select closed-loop poles; then, optimize over parameterized controllers. We build on the system level synthesis (SLS) parameterization -- primarily used in the discrete-time setting -- and extend it to the general continuous-time setting. We verify our approach in simulation on a 9-node grid governed by linearized swing equations, where our distributed controllers achieve performance comparable to that of optimal centralized controllers while facilitating local disturbance rejection.