A time-varying matrix solution to the Brockett decentralized stabilization problem

Abstract: This paper proposes a time-varying matrix solution to the Brockett stabilization problem. The key matrix condition shows that if the system matrix product $CB$ is a Hurwitz H-matrix, then there exists a time-varying diagonal gain matrix $K(t)$ such that the closed-loop minimum-phase linear system with decentralized output feedback is exponentially convergent. The proposed solution involves several analysis tools such as diagonal stabilization properties of special matrices, stability conditions of diagonal-dominant linear systems, and solution bounds of linear time-varying integro-differential systems. A review of other solutions to the general Brockett stabilization problem (for a general unstructured time-varying gain matrix $K(t)$) and a comparison study are also provided.