Control design based on a linear state function observer

A control design method based on a linear state function observer is proposed. The method is a semi-inverse design procedure in that the control law is not designed before the observer system, but is a result of the observer design. However, the observer design is not completely independent of the control design, but seeks to yield a feedback signal that is close to a prescribed control law. First, the observer design problem is considered as the reconstruction of a linear function of the state vector. The linear state function to be reconstructed is the given control law. Then, based on the derivation for linear state function observers, the observer design is formulated as a parameter optimization problem. The optimization objective is to generate a matrix that is close to the given feedback gain matrix. Based on that matrix, the form of the observer and a new control law can be determined. The semi-inverse design procedure can yield a reduced-order observer with dimension considerably smaller than that of the system. Two numerical examples are used to demonstrate the proposed design procedure.