Robust output synchronization of second-order systems

A technique to synchronize a network of dynamical systems described by second-order ordinary differential equations is presented. Each system can be driven by a coupling control signal, which is synthesized such that, at steady-state, the outputs of two given systems, say yi and yj, i ≠ j, satisfy a specified ratio, that is, yi/yj = αi/αj, αi ≠ 0 ≠ αj. Among others, this includes the cases where the outputs are synchronized in-phase or anti-phase. The proposed synchronization technique is robust; this means that a small synchronization error is preserved at steady-state, even if the systems were perturbed by external disturbances. Some level of parameter uncertainty can also be tolerated. The coupling control signals are synthesized based on a classical controller and a robust observer that estimates the generalized velocities and provides an estimation of the perturbation terms. Some experimental results, showing the performance of the proposed synchronization technique, are included.