Controllability and observability of networked systems of linear hyperbolic partial differential equations

In this paper, we consider the controllability and the observability of a networked system of linear hyperbolic partial differential equations with coupled boundary conditions. Using the method of characteristics, we characterize them by the controllability/observability of a discrete-time system which is defined on the boundaries of the PDE system, has low-dimension, and hence the analysis is easy for. We also show the effectiveness of our approach using an simple example.