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The problem of distributed identification of linear stochastic system with unknown coefficients over time-varying networks is considered. For estimating the unknown coefficients, each agent in the network can only access the input and the binary-valued output of the local system. Compared with the existing works on distributed optimization and estimation, the binary-valued local output observation considered in the paper makes the problem challenging. By assuming that the agent in the network can communicate with its adjacent neighbours, a stochastic approximation based distributed identification algorithm is proposed, and the consensus and convergence of the estimates are established. Finally, a numerical example is given showing that the simulation results are consistent with the theoretical analysis.

In this paper we consider the output consensus problem of networked Hammerstein and Wiener systems in a noisy environment. The Hammerstein or Wiener system is assumed to be open-loop stable, and its static nonlinearity is allowed to grow up but not faster than a polynomial. A control algorithm based on the distributed stochastic approximation algorithm with expanding truncations is designed and it is shown that under the designed control the output consensus is achieved. The numerical simulation given in the paper justifies the theoretical assertions., Comment: 19 pages, 7 figures

This paper studies a distributed stochastic optimization problem over random networks with imperfect communications subject to a global constraint, which is the intersection of local constraint sets assigned to agents. The global cost function is the sum of local cost functions, each of which is the expectation of a random cost function. By incorporating the augmented Lagrange technique with the projection method, a stochastic approximation based distributed primal-dual algorithm is proposed to solve the problem. Each agent updates its estimate by using the local observations and the information derived from neighbors. For the constrained problem, the estimates are first shown to be bounded almost surely (a.s.), and then are proved to converge to the optimal solution set a.s. Furthermore, the asymptotic normality and efficiency of the algorithm are addressed for the unconstrained case. The results demonstrate the influence of random networks, communication noises, and gradient errors on the performance of the algorithm. Finally, numerical simulations demonstrate the theoretic results.

The paper studies a distributed constrained optimization problem, where multiple agents connected in a network collectively minimize the sum of individual objective functions subject to a global constraint being an intersection of the local constraint sets assigned to the agents. Based on the augmented Lagrange method, a distributed primal-dual algorithm with a projection operation included is proposed to solve the problem. It is shown that with appropriately chosen constant step size, the local estimates derived at all agents asymptotically reach a consensus at an optimal solution. In addition, the value of the cost function at the time-averaged estimate converges with rate $O(\frac{1}{k})$ to the optimal value for the unconstrained problem. By these properties the proposed primal-dual algorithm is distinguished from the existing algorithms for distributed constrained optimization. The theoretical analysis is justified by numerical simulations., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures

In the paper, a novel distributed stochastic approximation algorithm (DSAA) is proposed to seek roots of the sum of local functions, each of which is associated with an agent from the multiple agents connected in a network. At any time, each agent updates its estimate for the root utilizing the observation of its local function and the information derived from the neighboring agents. The key difference of the proposed algorithm from the existing ones consists in the expanding truncations (so it is called as DSAAWET), by which the boundedness of the estimates can be guaranteed without imposing the growth rate constraints on the local functions. The convergence of the estimates generated by DSAAWET to a consensus set belonging to the root set of the sum function is shown under weaker conditions on the local functions and on the observation noise in comparison with the existing results. We illustrate our approach by two applications, one from signal processing and the other one from distributed optimization. Numerical simulation results are also included., Comment: 18 pages, 2 pictures

The PageRank algorithm employed by Google quantifies the importance of each page by the link structure of the web. To reduce the computational burden the distributed randomized PageRank algorithms (DRPA) recently appeared in literature suggest pages to update their ranking values by locally communicating with the linked pages. The main objective of the note is to show that the estimates generated by DRPA converge to the true PageRank value almost surely under the assumption that the randomization is realized in an independent and identically distributed (iid) way. This is achieved with the help of the stochastic approximation (SA) and its convergence results.

This paper deals with the parameter estimation problem of the Single-Input-Single-Output (SISO) switched Hammerstein system. Suppose that the switching law is arbitrary but can be observed online. All subsystems are parameterized and the Recursive Least Squares (RLS) algorithm is applied to estimate their parameters. To overcome the difficulty caused by coupling of data from different subsystems, the concept "intrinsic switch" is introduced. Two cases are considered: i) The input is taken to be a sequence of independent identically distributed (i.i.d.) random variables when identification is the only purpose; ii) A diminishingly excited signal is superimposed on the control when the adaptive control law is given. The strong consistency of the estimates in both cases is established and a simulation example is given to verify the theoretical analysis., Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures; Accepted for publication by Acta Mathematicae Applicatae Sinica (http://link.springer.com/journal/10255)