We consider the problem of solving a smooth convex optimization problem with equality and inequality constraints in a distributed fashion. Assuming that we have a group of agents available capable of communicating over a communication network described by a time-invariant directed graph, we derive distributed continuous-time agent dynamics that ensure convergence to a neighborhood of the optimal solution of the optimization problem. Following the ideas introduced in our previous work, we combine saddle-point dynamics with Lie bracket approximation techniques. While the methodology was previously limited to linear constraints and objective functions given by a sum of strictly convex separable functions, we extend these result here and show that it applies to a very general class of optimization problems under mild assumptions on the communication topology.
@article{arxiv.1802.10519,
title = {On the Lie bracket approximation approach to distributed optimization: Extensions and limitations},
author = {Simon Michalowsky and Bahman Gharesifard and Christian Ebenbauer},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1802.10519},
year = {2018}
}