2018 IEEE 3rd Advanced Information Technology, Electronic and Automation Control Conference(IAEAC 2018)

Dynamic observer design for a class of nonlinear

systems
Nan Gao1 , Mohamed Darouach2 , Marouane Alma2
1 School of Automobile, Chang’an University, Middle-section of Naner Huan Road, Xi’an, ShaanXi, 710064, China
2 CRAN-CNRS UMR 7039, Lorraine University, IUT de Longwy, 186, Rue de Lorraine, Cosnes et Romain 54400, France
gaonan@chd.edu.cn, mohamed.darouach@univ-lorraine.fr, marouane.alma@univ-lorraine.fr

Abstract—In this paper, we propose a dynamic observer for II. P ROBLEM F ORMULATION
nonlinear systems for the first time. It generalizes the existing
proportional observer and proportional integral observer. The Let us consider the following nonlinear systems:
nonlinear system are composed of a linear unforced part and
a nonlinear state dependent controlled part, which is account- ẋ = Ax + Bu + f (x), (1a)
ed for via its Lipschitz constant. The design approach of the y = Cx, (1b)
proposed observer is derived from the solution of the linear
matrix inequality (LMI), based on the parametrization results with initial state x(0) = x0 . x(t) ∈ Rn , u(t) ∈ Rm and
of algebraic constraints obtained from the unbiased estimation y(t) ∈ Rp are the state, input and output, respectively. Matrices
error. A numerical example is provided to show the applicability
A, B and C are known constant and of appropriate dimensions.
of the approach.
In this paper, it is assumed that the nonlinear function f (x)
Keywords—Dynamic observer; Nonlinear systems; Lips-
satisfies the following assumption [11]:
chitz; LMI
Assumption 1: The nonlinear function f (x) is assumed to be
Lipschitz in its first argument with a Lipschitz constant γ, i.e.
I. I NTRODUCTION there exists a positive constant γ such that
kf (x) − f (x̂)k ≤ γkx − x̂k, (2)
Ever since Luenberger firstly presented the results on observ-
er [1] it has been greatly investigated for nonlinear systems, for all vectors x, x̂ ∈ Rn .
see [2], and [3] for example. The most of observers applied For system (1), let us consider the following observer:
are the proportional observer (PO), which always have a static
error in the estimation. In order to deal with the static error, ż = N z + Jy + Hu + M v + T f (x̂), (3a)
the proportional and integral observer (PIO) has come out. The v̇ = P z + Qy + Gv, (3b)
application of PIO for nonlinear systems can be found in [4], x̂ = Rz + Sy, (3c)
[5] and references therein.
More recently, the dynamic observer (DO) has become a new where z ∈ Rq is the state vector of the observer, with n − p ≤
hot topic, which has a dynamic variable. In [6], we proposed q ≤ n, v ∈ Rr is an auxiliary vector and x̂ ∈ Rn is the state
a unified form of DO, which generalized the PO and PIO. estimate. Matrices N , J, H, M , T , P , Q, G, R are S are
Subsequently, it is proved that DO has better performance in unknown and of appropriate dimensions to be determined.
both steady and transient state than PO and PIO, in [7], [8], In this paper, the observer design problem is to determine
[9] and [10]. all the parametrization matrices such that the estimation error
e(t) (e(t) = x̂(t) − x(t)) → 0 when t → ∞.
At present, there is no results of DO for nonlinear systems.
To begin with, let us define the following new error variable:
The aim of this paper is to extent the DO for a class of nonlinear
systems, which are composed of a linear unforced part and a ε = z − T x, (4)
nonlinear state dependent controlled part.
The reminder of this paper is organized as follows: In Section where ε ∈ Rq .
2, the problem is presented, and the algebraic constraints Then we have the following results about the derivative of
are derived through the analysis of vector dynamics. The ε:
parameterizations of the algebraic constraints are presented in ε̇ = ż − T ẋ,
Section 3. The observer design problem is solved in Section
4. A numerical example is presented to illustrate the design = N ε + M v + T [f (x̂) − f (x)]
procedure in Section 5. Finally, some conclusions are drawn in + (N T + JC − T A)x + (H − T B)u. (5)
Section 6.
Moreover, from (3b) and (3c) we can obtain
Notation: A+ denotes any generalized inverse of matrix A
which satisfies AA+ A = A. v̇ = P ε + Gv + (P T + QC)x (6)

978-1-5386-4509-3/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE 373

  
and T
where Σ = , and Z is an arbitrary matrix of appropriate
x̂ = Rε + (RT + QC)x. (7) C
dimension.  
From (5), (6) and (7), we can see that if the following Left-multiplying (13) by I 0 0 yields
conditions
N J = T AΣ+ − Z1 (I − ΣΣ+ ).
 
(14)
N T + JC − T A = 0, (8a)  
I
 
0
H − T B = 0, (8b) Subsequently, right-multiplying (14) by and respec-
0 I
P T + QC = 0, (8c) tively, we have
RT + SC = I (8d) N = T Aα1 − Z1 β1 , (15)
are satisfied, the dynamic of error ε and auxiliary state v are J = T Aα2 − Z1 β2 . (16)
independent of x and u, and estimation error e becomes where
   
e = Rε. +I + I
α1 = Σ , β1 = (I − ΣΣ ) , (17)
0 0
In this case, we have  
0
 
0
α2 = Σ+ , β2 = (I − ΣΣ+ ) , (18)
ε̇ = N ε + M v + T [f (x̂ − f (x)], (9a) I I
 
v̇ = P ε + Gv, (9b) Z1 = I 0 0 Z. (19)
e = Rε, (9c) Similarly, we have the following representation of R, Q, R
and S:
or equivalently,
P = −Z2 β1 , (20)
ζ̇ = Aζ + BF(x), (10a)
Q = −Z2 β2 , (21)
e = Cζ, (10b)
R = α1 − Z3 β1 , (22)
where S = α2 − Z3 β2 , (23)
     
ε N M T
ζ= ,A = ,B = , where
v P G 0  
Z2 = 0 I 0 Z, (24)
 
F(x) = f (x̂) − f (x) and C = R 0 .  
Z3 = 0 0 I Z. (25)
Then the observer design problem is reduced to the stability
analysis of system (10). In other words, we must determine Remark 1: It becomes obvious from (9c) that e → 0 when
matrices A, B and C such that ζ → 0(e → 0) when t → ∞. ε → 0, i.e., error is independent of the matrix R. Then we can
fix Z3 = 0 and obtain
III. PARAMETRIZATION
R = α1 , S = α2 . (26)
Before solving the observer design problem, we will present
some parametrization results Firstly, from (8a), (8c) and (8d) Remark 2: According to the above results, the matrix A in
we have the following equation: (10) becomes
    A = A1 − ZA2 , (27)
N J   TA
 P Q T 
T Aα1 0
 
Z1 M

=  0 . (11) where A1 = , Z = and A2 =
C 0 0 Z2 G
R S I  
β1 0
Moreover, we can see the condition for (11) to have a .
0 −I
solution is the following rank condition Based on the above results, the observer design problem
is reduced to determine matrix Z, such that system (10) is
 
T
  C  asymptotically stable.
T  
rank = rank  T A=n (12) IV. O BSERVER DESIGN
C 
 0 
In this section, we will show that how to determine matrix
I
Z. Firstly, we propose the following theorem:
must be satisfied.(1). Theorem 1: System (10) is asymptotically stable, if there
Assume that we choose a matrix T to satisfy the condition exists a symmetric positive definite matrix P such that the
(12), then the solution of (11) is give as follows: following LMI holds
 T
CT
    
N J TA A P + PA PB
 P Q =  0  Σ+ − Z(I − ΣΣ+ ) (13)  BT P −γI 0  < 0. (28)
R S I C 0 −γI

374
 Proof: Let us chose the Lyapunov function as follows: V. N UMERICAL EXAMPLE

V (ζ) = ζ T Pζ, (29) In this section, a numerical example is presented to illustrate

the observer design approach. Let us consider the system in
where PT = P is a symmetric positive definite matrix. [12], where
Then the derivative of V (ζ) is given by  
−1.6024 0 0
A= 0 −1.6024 0 ,
V (ζ̇) = (ζ̇)T Pζ + ζ T Pζ̇,
0 0 −1.6024
= ζ T (AT P + PA)ζ + 2ζ T PBF(x),  
0  
≤ ζ T (AT P + PA)ζ + 2kζ T PBkkf (x̂) − f (x)k. (30) 1 0 0
B = 0 , C = ,
0 0 1
0
By considering the inequality (2) in Assumption 1, we have  T
f (x) = 0.5 sin x2 0.6 cos x3 0 , γ = 0.65
V (ζ̇) ≤ ζ T (AT P + PA)ζ + 2kζ T PBk × γkx̂ − xk,
The initial sates are x1 = 1, x2 = 2 and x3 = 3.
≤ ζ T (AT P + PA)ζ + γ × 2kζ T PBkkek, Firstly, we choose the matrix T as follows:
≤ ζ T (AT P + PA)ζ + γ(kζ T PBk2 + kek2 ). (31)  
2 1 0
Subsequently from (9c), we obtain T = 0 1 0
1 2 3
V (ζ̇) ≤ ζ T (AT P + PA)ζ + γ(kζ T PBk2 + kCζk2 ),
which satisfies the condition (12).
≤ ζ T (AT P + PA + γPBBT P + γCT C)ζ. (32) Then by following the procedure proposed in last section,
we obtain the following DO:
From the above the results, we can see that V (ζ̇) < 0,  
in other words, system (10) is asymptotically stable, if the −13.3368 3.8443 3.9451
following LMI holds ż =  0.1303 −1.4829 −0.1249  z
−0.4626 18.65 −10.6961
AT P + PA + γPBBT P + γCT C < 0. (33)
     
19.5238 −11.8352 0 0.0828
+ −0.1357 0.3748  y + 0 u +  0  v
By using Schur complement, (33) becomes (28). This com- 10.0188 27.2811 0 0.0547
pletes the proof. 
2 1 0


+ 0 1 0 f (x),
Based on the parametrization results in section 3 and The- 1 2 3
orem 1, we have the following theorem to determine matrix
Z:  
v̇ = −0.0019 0.0003 0.0008 z
Theorem 2: System (10) is asymptotically stable, if there  
exist a symmetric positive definite matrices P and a matrix Y, 0.003 −0.0023 y − 0.4988v,
such that the following LMI holds
 
 T 0.3514 −0.2973 −0.027
A1 P + PA1 − AT2 YT − YA2 PB CT

x̂ =  0.0946 0.6892 0.1081  z
 BT P −γI 0  < 0. (34)
−0.1622 −0.3243 0.2432
C 0 −γI  
0.3243 0.811
In this case, Z = P−1 Y. + −0.2973 −0.3243 y
Proof: By inserting (27) into LMI (28), and defining PZ = 0.0811 0.2703
Y, LMI (28) becomes (34), which completes the proof.
The simulation results are shown in the following figures.
With all these results, the design procedure of the proposed
Due to that the performance of DO has been proved in [10],
observer can be obtained as follows:
the comparison between DO and PO, PIO is omitted. Fig 1
• Choose the matrix T according to the condition (12); represents the estimation error e1 of state x1 . Fig 2 represents
• Compute the matrices α1 , β1 , α2 and β2 according to (17) the estimation error e2 of state x2 . Fig 3 represents the
and (18); estimation error e3 of state x3 .
• Compute the matrix Z from Theorem 2; From these figures we can see that the estimation errors tend
• Deduce all the matrices according to (15), (16), (20), (21), to zero asymptotically. Furthermore, there is no static error in
(26) and (8b). the estimation error.

375
 [2] F. Alonge, M. Cirrincione, M. Pucci, and A. Sferlazza, “A nonlinear
observer for rotor flux estimation of induction motor considering the
estimated magnetization characteristic,” IEEE Transactions on Industry
Applications, vol. 53, no. 6, pp. 5952–5965, Nov 2017.
[3] D. A. Aligia, G. A. Magallan, and C. H. D. Angelo, “Ev traction control
based on nonlinear observers considering longitudinal and lateral tire
forces,” IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, vol. PP,
no. 99, pp. 1–14, Otc 2017.
[4] J. Zhu, W. Chen, H. Ma, and Z. Yang, “Robust nonlinear control design
with PI observer for an air-breathing hypersonic vehicle,” in Chinese
Automation Congress, Nov 2015, pp. 1681–1685.
Fig. 1. Estimation error e1 [5] A. H. El-Shaer, M. A. Janaideh, and I. S. M. Khalil, “Robust servo
control using PI-Luenberger observers with application to nonlinear
piezo-electrically actuated systems,” in American Control Conference,
July 2016, pp. 1317–1322.
[6] M. Darouach, N. Gao, H. Voos, and H. Marquez, “Generalized H∞
observers design for systems with unknown inputs,” in Conference on
Control and Fault-Tolerant Systems (SysTol), Oct 2013, pp. 172–177.
[7] N. Gao, M. Darouach, H. Voos, and M. Alma, “Robust unified H∞
dynamic observer design for uncertain systems,” in 33rd Chinese Control
Conference (CCC), July 2014, pp. 6509–6514.
[8] ——, “H∞ dynamic observer design for linear time invariant systems,”
in 53rd Annual Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), Dec 2014,
pp. 1631–1636.
[9] N. Gao, M. Darouach, M. Alma, and H. Voos, “Decentralized dynamic-
observer-based control for large scale nonlinear uncertain systems,” in
Fig. 2. Estimation error e2
American Control Conference, July 2015, pp. 4131–4136.
[10] N. Gao, M. Darouach, H. Voos, and M. Alma, “New unified H∞ dynamic
observer design for linear systems with unknown inputs,” Automatica,
vol. 65, no. C, pp. 43–52, 2016.
[11] G. He, J. Ji, G. He, and J. Ji, “Full-order observers design for nonlinear
systems with unknown input,” in Chinese Control and Decision Confer-
ence, May 2011, pp. 230–234.
[12] S. Kong, M. Saif, and B. Liu, “Observer design for a class of nonlinear
fractional-order systems with unknown input,” Journal of the Franklin
Institute, vol. 354, no. 13, June 2017.

Fig. 3. Estimation error e3

VI. C ONCLUSIONS
In this paper, we proposed a DO for a class of nonlinear
systems for the first time. Firstly the algebraic constraints is
obtained, based on the analysis of estimation error. Then the
observer design problem is reduced to the lMI optimization
problem, based on the parametrization of algebraic constraints
and the Lipschitz condition. A numerical example is presented
to illustrated effectiveness of the proposed observer for nonlin-
ear systems.
The exiting results of DO are mainly focused on the linear
system. However, the most of system in practice are nonlinear,
such as vehicle. The proposed DO can give us a suggestion,
when we applied it to the intelligent vehicles control system.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This work is partially supported by the Natural Science Foun-
dation of Shaanxi Province (2017JQ6036, 2016KW-035), and
the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
in Chang’an University, China (310822171005, 300102228403,
310832171007).
R EFERENCES
[1] D. Luenberger, “An introduction to observers,” Automatic Control, IEEE
Transactions on, vol. 16, no. 6, pp. 596–602, Dec 1971.

376