Geometric Method for Passivation and Cooperative Control of Equilibrium-Independent Passive-Short Systems

Equilibrium-independent passive-short (EIPS) systems are a class of systems that satisfy a passivity-like dissipation inequality with respect to any forced equilibria with nonpositive passivity indices. This article presents a geometric approach for finding a passivizing transformation for such systems, relying on their steady-state input–output relation and the notion of projective quadratic inequalities (PQIs). We show that PQIs arise naturally from passivity-shortage characteristics of an EIPS system, and the set of their solutions can be explicitly expressed. We leverage this connection to build an input–output mapping that transforms the steady-state input–output relation to a monotone relation, and show that the same mapping passivizes the EIPS system. We show that the proposed transformation can be implemented through a combination of feedback, feedthrough, post- and premultiplication gains. Furthermore, we consider an application of the presented passivation scheme for the analysis of networks comprised of EIPS systems. Numerous examples are provided to illustrate the theoretical findings.