A simple algorithm for computing canonical forms (Q1061460)

This paper deals with building-up an on-line procedure which transforms a linear time-invariant controllable system to \textit{P. Brunovský}'s canonical form [Kybernetika 6, 173-188 (1970; Zbl 0199.482)]. The practical interest of such a procedure is the design of automatic flight controllers for vertical and short take off aircrafts. The main contribution of this paper is to point out that \textit{G. Meyer}'s block triangular form [The design of exact nonlinear model followers, Proc. 1981 Joint Automatic Control Conf., FA3A (1981)] is a natural intermediate step. Next the lead variables for the Brunovsky form are selected and the Kronecker indices are computed. The whole algorithm involves only orthogonal matrices, coordinate changes and linear feedback; it is straightforward and simple from a computational point of view. Pseudocodes are given for all steps (the authors claim that they have computer programs to carry out the entire process) and a numerical example is treated.