Task 6: Controllability and Reachability [12 Points]

Consider the continuous-time system

   
−1 2 −1 −1
ẋ(t) =  0 1 1  x(t) +  1  u(t).
0 0 −3 0

a) Is the system reachable (in general)? Give reasons for your statement.

b) Identify the controllable and uncontrollable eigenvalues of the system using the
Popov-Belevitch-Hautus/rank test.

c) Is the system stabilizable? Give reasons for your statement.

d) Specify the set of all reachable states in form of a mathematical expression.

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Solution to Task 6
a) [3 Points]
For LTI systems in continuous-time a completely state (or general) reachable system is also
completely state (or general) controllable and vice versa. As the controllability matrix C is
rank-deficient, the system is not reachable in general:
   
−1 2 −1 1 0 6
A =  0 1 1  , A2 = 0 1 −2 ,
0 0 −3 0 0 9
     
−1 3 −1
2
B = 1 , AB = 1 , A B = 1  ,
    
0 0 0

 
−1 3 −1
C = B, AB, A2 B =  1 1 1  ,
 

0 0 0

rank(C) = 2 < 3, det(C) = 0.

b) [4 Points]
Find the eigenvalues:
 
λ + 1 −2 +1
!
det([λI − A]) = det  0 λ − 1 −1  = (λ + 1) · (λ − 1) · (λ + 3) = 0,
0 0 λ+3

λ1 = −1,
λ2 = +1,
λ3 = −3.

Test the rank for each eigenvalue:

 
0 −2 1 −1
rank([λ1 I − A, B]) = rank 0 −2 −1 1  = 3,
0 0 2 0
 
2 −2 1 −1
rank([λ2 I − A, B]) = rank 0 0 −1 1  = 3,
0 0 4 0
 
−2 −2 1 −1
rank([λ3 I − A, B]) = rank  0 −4 −1 1  = 2 < 3.
0 0 0 0

The eigenvalues λ1 = −1 and λ2 = +1 are controllable while the eigenvalue λ3 = −3 is not.

c) [2 Points]
As the unstable eigenvalue (λ2 = +1, pos. real part) is controllable, the system is stabilizable.

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d) [3 Points]
As the controllability matrix C is rank-deficient, the set of reachable or controllable states
xreachable is only a subspace. The subspace is defined by a linear combination of the fist linear
independent column vectors of C. In this case, only two out of three column vectors are linear
independent:

xreachable = α0 · B + α1 · AB
   
−1 3
= α0 ·  1  + α1 · 1 ,
0 0

with αi ∈ R.

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