Controlling the space with preassigned responses (Q1078515)

It is shown that large classes of control systems, which include certain systems of the type \(x'+A(t)x=B(t)u\), can be handled in such a way that the control functions u(t) are actually associated with responses x(t) that belong to known families of functions. In particular, it is possible, for a variety of perturbations B(t)u and operators A(t) with convex domains, to have responses that are line segments joining the origin to the reachable states. The present approach establishes the fact that a vast number of results from functional analysis concerning ranges of operators can be effectively applied to the general theory of control. It is also rather significant that the present theory does not necessarily require the solvability of the associated Cauchy problem. The operators B(t)u do not have to be invertible in u. However, it is shown that continuous controls u(t) can be obtained for a variety of problems when \(B^{-1}(t)u\) exists and is continuous in t.