Affine control systems: Their equivalence, classification, quotient systems, and subsystems (Q1269950)

The author writes in the Introduction: ``In this paper, we review the problem of reduction (or of expression in a simpler form) of affine control systems of the form \[ \dot{y} = f_0(y) + f(y)u, \quad y \in M, \quad u \in R^r,\tag{1} \] where \( M \) is the phase space of system (1) which is an \( n \)-dimensional manifold. We confine ourselves to the results that admit an interpretation in terms of the approach elaborated in my joint paper with Yu. N. Pavlovskij on the reduction of mathematical models.'' Section 1 deals with affine distributions (prototypes of the maps \( y \mapsto f_0(y) + \{ f(y)u : u \in R^r \} \) associated with affine systems (1)) and codistributions. It is noted that a morphism (resp., an isomorphism) between the affine distributions of two affine systems determines, as a state transformation, a morphism (resp., an isomorphism) between the systems' trajectories. Morphisms decomposable into those preserving controls and those preserving trajectories are characterized. In section 2, classes of locally equivalent (i.e., isomorphic in a neighborhood of a given state) affine systems and Pfaffian systems are introduced. Several theorems state that an affine system is locally equivalent to a canonical one; the canonical affine systems are described explicitly and from a finite class. The theorems of this kind are formulated for involutive affine systems of arbitrary dimension, affine systems of dimensions 2 and 3, and symmetric affine systems (characterized by \( f_0(y) = 0 \)) of dimension 4. In section 3, cases where an affine system admits an equivalent (quotient) system of a lower dimension, as well as a case where a quotient system is decomposable into two independent subsystems are described; other examples of quotient systems are shown. Finally, in section 4, cases where an affine system has an equivalent subsystem (whose trajectories turn into those of the original system due to an appropriate transformation of states) are considered.