Quasi-ISS/ISDS observers for interconnected systems and applications

This paper considers interconnected nonlinear dynamical systems and studies observers for such systems. For single systems the notion of quasi-input-to-state dynamical stability (quasi-ISDS) for reduced-order observers is introduced and observers are investigated using error Lyapunov functions. It combines the main advantage of ISDS over input-to-state stability (ISS), namely the memory fading effect, with reduced-order observers to obtain quantitative information about the state estimate error. Considering interconnections quasi-ISS/ISDS reduced-order observers for each subsystem are derived, where suitable error Lyapunov functions for the subsystems are used. Furthermore, a quasi-ISS/ISDS reduced-order observer for the whole system is designed under a small-gain condition, where the observers for the subsystems are used. As an application, we prove that quantized output feedback stabilization for each subsystem and the overall system is achievable, when the systems possess a quasi-ISS/ISDS reduced-order observer and a state feedback law that yields ISS/ISDS for each subsystem and therefor the overall system with respect to measurement errors. Using dynamic quantizers it is shown that under the mentioned conditions asymptotic stability can be achieved for each subsystem and for the whole system.