Observability of Linear Time-Varying Descriptor Systems (Q3977060)

This paper examines the observability of linear time-varying descriptor systems in the form of \[ \begin{cases} E(t)\underline{x}'(t)+F(t)\underline{x}(t)=B(t)u(t)\\ y(t)=C(t)\underline{x}(t)\end{cases} \] where \(E\) is not required to have constant rank. Characterizations of different types of observability are given in terms of rank conditions on arrays made up of derivatives only of the original coefficients \(E\), \(F\) and \(C\) so as to reduce symbolic computation. All algebra can be carried out numerically. The concept of smooth observability, which is defined by using the differentiability of \(E\), \(F\) and \(C\) and is weaker than uniform observability, is introduced. It is also shown that all observable analytic descriptor systems are smoothly observable even if they are not uniformly observable. This is a new result even in the nonsingular case when \(E\) is invertible. These ideas are used to develop a characterization of the external behavior of smoothly observable time- varying descriptor systems, which gives the input-output representation of the systems.