A local characterization of observability (Q1375522)

Linear, finite-dimensional, continuous-time, time dependent control systems are considered. Under the assumptions concerning smoothness of the system matrices, many necessary and sufficient conditions for observability and strong observability (also called observability with unknown inputs) are formulated and proved. In the proofs, pure algebraic methods are mainly used. The main purpose of these conditions is to give local criteria (in the sense of time-interval) for observability and strong observability for time-dependent control systems directly in terms of the system matrices. Moreover, the proofs of the theorems yield directly a method for observer construction. Finally, several remarks and comments on observability for linear systems are given. The results of the paper extend for time-dependent systems the well-known criteria for observability of linear time-invariant dynamical systems [\textit{J. Klamka}, Controllability of dynamical systems, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht (1991; Zbl 0732.93008)].