Distributed Continuous-Time Algorithms for Resource Allocation Problems Over Weight-Balanced Digraphs

In this paper, a distributed resource allocation problem with nonsmooth local cost functions is considered, where the interaction among agents is depicted by strongly connected and weight-balanced digraphs. Here the decision variable of each agent is within a local feasibility constraint described as a convex set, and all the decision variables have to satisfy a network resource constraint, which is the sum of available resources. To solve the problem, a distributed continuous-time algorithm is developed by virtue of differentiated projection operations and differential inclusions, and its convergence to the optimal solution is proved via the set-valued LaSalle invariance principle. Furthermore, the exponential convergence of the proposed algorithm can be achieved when the local cost functions are differentiable with Lipschitz gradients and there are no local feasibility constraints. Finally, numerical examples are given to verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms.