Design of minimal order stable observers for linear functions of the state via realization theory

Abstract--The design of a minimal order stable observer and a minimal order observer with arbitrary poles that estimates a vector linear function of the state of a multivariable system is discussed. It is shown that both problems can be solved in a straightforward manner using partial realization theory, and several new results are given. These include a strong bound for the dimension of the minimal order stable observer and a simple necessary condition to design the minimal order observer with arbitrary poles that estimates a vector linear function of the state of a multiple-output system. Necessary and sufficient conditions are given for designing a minimal order observer with arbitrary poles for the case of estimating a vector linear function of the state of a single-output system and the case of estimating a scalar linear function of the state of a multiple-output system. A procedure to carry out the design in each of these cases is described. No restrictions whatsoever (except stability) are placed on the possible values of the observer poles. A significant observation of this paper is that the dynamics of the observer are constrained (in all cases) only by the gain matrix in the feedback law to be estimated and the output structure of the given system.