Nonlinear decoupling and structure at infinity (Q1111500)

The author introduces a notion of structure at infinity for nonlinear systems from an imput-output point of view. It characterizes the solvability of the nonlinear decoupling problem via regular static state feedback as well as dynamic state feedback. This structure at infinity consists of a list of integers considered in the inversion algorithm and are easily computed. As a consequence of the main results, it is shown that the number of zeros at infinity is nothing but the differential output rank. Thus, this set of invariant integers can be considered as a refinement of the notion of rank of a nonlinear system. This algebraic structure at infinity coincides, in the case of systems which are linearizable under regular static state feedback, with the one that has been formerly introduced, based upon the so-called geometric approach.