An observer for systems with nonlinear output map. (Q1400330)

The following process structure is considered in this paper: \[ \dot x= Ax+ g(y,u),\quad y= h(x,u),\tag{1} \] where \(y(t)\in \mathbb{R}\) is the output, \(x(t)\in X\subseteq \mathbb{R}^m\) is the state vector, \(u(t)\in U\subseteq \mathbb{R}^m\) is the input, and \(h(x,u)\) is assumed to be piecewise continuous in \(u\) and twice differentiable in \(x\). A nonlinear observer with the feedback gain weighted by the sensitivity of the output with respect to the state is proposed, having the form \[ \dot{\widehat x}= A\widehat x+ g(y,u)+ Kh^{\prime T}(\widehat x,u)(y- h(\widehat x,u)),\tag{2} \] where the gain matrix \(K\) is a symmetric and positive definite solution to the Lyapunov equation \[ - D= A^T K^{-1}+ K^{-1}A, \] where the design matrix \(D\) is symmetric and positive definite and \({\mathcal N}(D)={\mathcal N}(A)\). The dynamics of the estimation error \(\widetilde x\triangleq x-\widehat x\) are obtained by taking the difference between (1) and (2) which yields \[ \dot{\widetilde x}= A\widetilde x- Kh^{\prime T}(x-\widetilde x, u)(h(x, u)- h(x- \widetilde x,u)). \] Sufficient conditions for asymptotic stability of the estimation error as well as an estimate of the region of attraction are derived. The observer has been applied to the top blown steel converter process and shown to produce accurate estimates of the carbon content.