AOE6744 HW#4

Due February 20, 2015

Remarks
Nuclear Reactor (Basar, Meyn, and Perkins lecture notes). Consider a simple academic model
of a nuclear reactor, where the control input is the rod levels, the output is the power generated, and
one of the states is equal to the rod temperature T . Suppose that using this control it is not possible
to influence the temperature T . Then the system is not controllable, and for safe operation it will be
necessary to add another actuator to raise or lower the internal temperature. This situation seems
highly unlikely for a real reactor. Suppose now that given the input-output measurements, it is not
possible to estimate the internal temperature T . We then say that the system is not observable. This
again is a highly undesirable situation, though it can be resolved by adding another measurement
a sensor to directly measure T . Hence, an uncontrollable or unobservable plant can be repaired
by expanding the number of inputs or outputs for the plant.
u

r
M

Figure 1: An uninhabited surface vehicle.

Uninhabited Surface Vehicle (USV). Figure 1 depicts a USV. The components of body velocity
in surge and sway are u and v, respectively, and the turn rate is r. In certain conditions, we
may neglect the roll, pitch, and heave motions and linearize the nonlinear dynamic equations about
steady forward motion at a nominal speed u. The stable speed dynamics decouple from the steering
dynamics, so we are left with the following linear, planar steering model for the USV:

0
0
1

1
mu
v = 0

mv Y
mv u
v + 0 M
1
1
r
0 I ((mu mv )
u + N )
0
r
I
|
{z
}
|
{z
}
{z
}
| {z } |
x
B
x
A
The parameters mu , mv , and I are the rigid body mass and inertia plus the added mass and inertia
due to the fluid. These parameters are always positive. The positive constants du , dv , and dr are
drag coefficients. The positive constants Y and N account for the side force and yaw moment
induced by an aft keel. The various parameter values are:
u = 1, mu = 10, mv = 20, I = 1, dv = 50, dr = 100, Y = 10, and N = 20
1

The controllability matrix in this case is

0
1
0


C(A, B) = B AB A2 B = 0 0.5 0.25
1
0
5
Since rank C = 3, the pair (A, B) is controllable. Now suppose that we can only measure the sway
velocity v, i.e.,


y=v= 0 1 0 x
{z
}
|
C
Then, the observability matrix in this case is

C
0
1
0
O(A, C) = CA = 0 0.5 0.5
CA2
0 4.75 0.25
Since rank O = 2 < 3, the pair (A, C) is not observable. By the dual of the PBH test, the
unobservable eigenvalue is = 0. From the physics of the problem, we can argue that cannot
be estimated from the input-output measurements, and this can be verified mathematically since

O 0 = 0 for any R
0
Thus, z = [ 0 0]T N (O) (the unobservable subspace) for any R. (Following a
similar argument to the one used to prove that R(C(A, B)) = R(W (t0 , tf )), we can show that
N (O(A, C)) = N (M (t0 , tf )).) This can be resolved by adding a sensor to measure . In fact,
in this problem, it turns out that if we only measure , then the other two states v and r can be
estimated from the input-output measurements. In other words, for y = C x = [1 0 0] x = , the
observability matrix

1 0 0
= 0 0 1
O(A, C)
0 10 0
is observable.
has full column rank, and so the pair (A, C)

Problems
1. Consider the linear time-invariant system

1
1 1
1

2
2 x + 0 u,
x = 1
1 1 1
0
(a) Check the controllability using
i. the controllability matrix;
2



y = 1 1 0 x.

ii. the Popov-Belevitch-Hautus eigenvector test;

iii. the Hautus-Rosenbrock test.
(b) Identify the controllable and uncontrollable modes (eigenvalues) of the system. Is it
stabilizable?
(c) Suppose that we start from the initial state x(0) = (1, 1, 1)T . Is there a control u(t)
that drives the state to x(1) = (3, 1, 1)T at time t = 1 ? Is there a control u(t) that
drives the state to x(1) = (1, 1, 1)T at time t = 1?
(d) Check the observability using
i. the observability matrix;
ii. the Popov-Belevitch-Hautus eigenvector test;
iii. the Hautus-Rosenbrock test.
(e) Identify the observable and unobservable modes of the system. Is it detectable?
2. For LTI systems, show that (A, B) is controllable if and only if (AT , B T ) is observable.
Comment: This property is called controllability/observability duality. It is also true for
time-varying systems, i.e. (A(t), B(t)) is controllable if and only if (AT (t), B T (t)) is observable. It is not true in general that (A(t), B(t)) is controllable if and only if (AT (t), B T (t))
is observable.
3. Consider the two models
(I)
(II)

x = A(t)x + B(t)u
y = C(t)x + D(t)u,

x(t0 ) Rn .

z = AT (t)z + C T (t)v
= B T (t)z + DT (t)v,

z(t0 ) Rn .

Use the result from Homework 2, problem 4 to show that the LTV model (I) is controllable
on the time interval [t0 , tf ] if and only if the model (II) is observable on [t0 , tf ].
4. Consider the following linear time-varying system:


 
0 1
1
x =
x+
u
0 t
0


y= 0 1 x
Is this system observable over the time interval [0, 1]?