An overview on the distributed internal model approach and its applications

The cooperative output regulation problem has been studied by two approaches: the distributed observer (DO) approach and the distributed internal model (DIM) approach, respectively. Each of these two approaches has its own merits and weaknesses. Recently, we presented an overview on the cooperative output regulation problem by the DO approach. This paper further surveys the cooperative output regulation problem by the DIM approach. We first summarize the constructions and the roles of two different versions of the internal models: the distributed p-copy internal model and the distributed canonical internal model. Then, we describe an integrated framework that combines the DO approach and the DIM approach. Extensions and variants of the DIM and their applications will also be highlighted.