Minimum Effort Decentralized Control Design for Contracting Network Systems

We consider the problem of making a networked system contracting by designing minimal effort local controllers. Our method combines a hierarchical contraction characterization and a matrix-balancing approach to stabilizing a Metzler matrix via minimal diagonal perturbations. We demonstrate our approach by designing local controllers that render contractive a network of FitzHugh-Nagumo neurons with a general topology of interactions.

Automated summary

This paper addresses the problem of networked system contraction by designing minimal effort local controllers. The proposed method combines a hierarchical contraction characterization and a matrix-balancing approach to stabilize a Metzler matrix through minimal diagonal perturbations. The approach is demonstrated by designing local controllers that render contractive a network of FitzHugh-Nagumo neurons with general topology of interactions.