Improving control and estimation for distributed parameter systems utilizing mobile actuator-sensor network

•Non-collocated moving actuator/sensor for improving control performance.•An optimal repositioning is performed throughout the spatial domain.•The velocity of each actuator/sensor is obtained.•Two kinds of filters that are used for enhancing system state estimation are designed.

This paper proposes a scheme for non-collocated moving actuating and sensing devices which is unitized for improving performance in distributed parameter systems. By Lyapunov stability theorem, each moving actuator/sensor agent velocity is obtained. To enhance state estimation of a spatially distributes process, two kinds of filters with consensus terms which penalize the disagreement of the estimates are considered. Both filters can result in the well-posedness of the collective dynamics of state errors and can converge to the plant state. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the effectiveness of such a moving actuator-sensor network in enhancing system performance and the consensus filters converge faster to the plant state when consensus terms are included.