Stabilization with Internal Loop for Infinite-Dimensional Discrete Time-Varying Systems
Abstract
The concepts of stabilization with internal loop are analyzed for well-posed transfer functions. We obtain some sufficient and necessary conditions such that a stabilizing controller with internal loop stabilizes plant L. We also analyze two special subclasses of stabilizing controllers with internal loop, called canonical and dual canonical controllers, and show that all stabilizing controllers can be parameterized by a doubly coprime factorization of the original transfer function.
1. Introduction
Control Theory is a relevant field from the mathematical theoretical point of view as well as in many applications (see [1–6]). What is important, in particular, is the closed-loop stabilization of dynamic system under appropriate feedback control as a minimum requirement to design a well-posed feedback system. In the last twenty years, the closed-loop system whose stability is achieved by the controller with internal loop has attracted the attention of many authors (see [7, 8]). While extending the theory of dynamic stabilization to regular linear systems (a subclass of the well-posed linear systems), it was shown in [7, Example 2.3] that even the standard observer-based controller is not a well-posed linear system and its transfer function is not well-posed. To overcome this, paper [8] proposed another definition of a stabilizing controller which is more general than that has been defined earlier, the so-called stabilizing controller with internal loop. The concept enabled a simple Youla parameterization and has some advantages which turn out to be very important for infinite-dimensional systems. It makes the theory of dynamic stabilization simpler and more natural [8].
Recently, the study of time-varying systems using modern mathematical methods has come into its own. This is a scientific necessity. After all, many common physical systems are time varying (see [9–14]). Paper [15] studied the concept of stabilization with internal loop for infinite-dimensional discrete time-varying systems and gave a parameterization of all stabilizing controllers with internal loop if I − K22 has a well-posed inverse in the framework of nest algebra. But in many cases, the controller C = K11 + K12(I − K22) −1K21 will not be well-posed, but C perhaps stabilizes L.
In this paper, we study the stabilization with internal loop for the linear time-varying system under the framework of nest algebra. We extend our study of controllers with internal loop to more general use and give a parameterization of all stabilizing controllers with internal loop even if I − K22 = 0. It is found that the stabilization with internal loop for the linear time-varying system obtained in [15] can be viewed as a special case of that obtained here. As we know, if the plant is not strictly proper, it is difficult to choose the parameter in such way that the resulting controller will be well-posed. Even if we choose to ignore well-posedness, we still have to ensure that the denominator in the Youla parameterization is invertible. This makes it awkward to use this parameterization to solve the practical problems, while the controller with internal loop overcomes this awkwardness. We obtain canonical and dual canonical controllers and show that all stabilizing controllers can be parameterized by a doubly coprime factorization of the original transfer function.
The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Mathematical background material and notation are introduced in Section 2. In Section 3, we give some sufficient and necessary conditions that a stabilizing controller with internal loop stabilizes plant L. In Section 4, we introduce canonical and dual canonical controllers. We show that a plant L is stabilizable with internal loop by a canonical (dual canonical) controller if and only if L has a right coprime (left coprime) factorization. We give a complete parameterization of all (dual) canonical stabilizing controllers with internal loop. Some conclusions are drawn in Section 5.
2. Preliminaries
Definition 1 (see [3].)A family N of closed subspaces of the Hilbert space H is a complete nest if
- (1)
{0}, H ∈ N.
- (2)
For N1, N2, either N1⊆N2 or N2⊆N1.
- (3)
If {Nα} is a subfamily in N, then ∩αNα and ∨αNα are also in N.
Every subspace N of H is identifiable with the orthogonal projection Pn
-
(1′) 0, I ∈ N.
-
(2′) For P1, P2 ∈ N, either P1 ≤ P2 or P2 ≤ P1.
-
(3′) If {Pα} is a nest in N which converges weakly (equivalently, strongly) to P, then P ∈ N.
Definition 2 (see [3].)If N is a nest and P is its associated family of orthogonal projections,
A linear transformation T on He is causal if PnT = PnTPn for n ≥ 0.
Lemma 3 (see [3].)The following are equivalent:
- (1)
T on He is stable.
- (2)
T is causal and T∣H is a bound operator.
- (3)
T is the extension to He of an operator in AlgR.
This lemma allow us to identify the algebra S of stable operators on He with the nest algebra AlgR. The restriction of T ∈ S to H is in AlgR and the extension of S ∈ AlgR to He is in S. AlgR and S are identical.
For L, K ∈ £, the operator matrix defined on He ⊕ He is called the feedback system with plant L and compensator K.
In Figure 1, L represents a given plant (system) and a compensator or controller; e1, e2 denote the externally applied inputs; uL, uK denote the inputs to the plant and compensator, respectively; and yL, yK denote the outputs of the compensator and plant, respectively.

The closed-loop system {L, K} is stable if has a bound causal inverse defined on H ⊕ H. The stability of the closed-loop system is equivalent to requiring that the four elements of the 2 × 2 matrix H(L, K) be in S. L ∈ £ is stabilizable if there exists K ∈ £ such that {L, K} is stable.
3. Stabilization with Internal Loop
In this section, a new type of controller is introduced, the so-called stabilizing controller with internal loop; see [16–18].
The intuitive interpretation of Figure 2 is as follows: L represents the plant and K is the transfer function of the controller from to , when all the connections are open. The connection from ξ0 to ξi is the so-called internal loop.

Example 4. Suppose L = I,
In the following, we give some sufficient and necessary conditions such that a stabilizing controller with internal loop stabilizes plant L avoiding the condition that I − K22 is invertible.
Theorem 5. Suppose that K11 is an admissible feedback transfer function for L. Then F(K, L) has a well-posed inverse if and only if I − M is invertible in £, where M = K22 + K21L(I − K11L) −1K12.
Proof. Consider the following
Since is invertible in M2(£), thus is invertible in M3(£) if and only if
Further, the condition that F(K, L) has a well-posed inverse is equivalent to that K is an admissible feedback transfer function with internal loop for L [7], so we have the following result.
Theorem 6. Suppose that K11 is a stabilizing controller for L; then is a stabilizing controller with internal loop for L if and only if
- (i)
(I − M) −1 ∈ S, where M = K22 + K21L(I − K11L) −1K12,
- (ii)
there exist E1, E2 ∈ S such that LE1 ∈ S, E2L ∈ S, E1(I − M)E2L ∈ S, E1(I − M)E2 ∈ S, LE1(I − M)E2 ∈ S, LE1(I − M)E2L ∈ S,
- (iii)
K12 = (I − K11L)E1(I − M),
- (iv)
K21 = (I − M)E2(I − LK11).
Proof. K11 stabilizes L if and only if .
If there exist E1, E2 ∈ S that satisfy (i)–(iv), all components in H(L, K) = F(K, L) −1 are
Conversely, H(L, K) = F(K, L) −1, and all components are
Remark 7. {L, K11} stable is only sufficient condition for {L, K} stable, but not a necessary condition.
Theorem 8. If K11 is an admissible controller for P, then {L, K} is stable if and only if
- (i)
Δ−1 = [I − K22 − K21L(I − K11L) −1K12] −1 ∈ S,
- (ii)
A = (I − K11L) −1K12Δ−1K21(I − LK11) −1 + K11(I − LK11) −1 = (I − K11L) −1(K12Δ−1K21 + K11 − K11LK11)(I − LK11) −1 ∈ S,
- (iii)
AL ∈ S, LA ∈ S, LAL + L ∈ S, K21(I − LK11) −1L ∈ S, L(I − K11L) −1K12 ∈ S, K21(I − LK11) −1 ∈ S, (I − K11L) −1K12 ∈ S.
In fact, the conditions of Theorem 8 are weaker than those of Theorem 6. From the proof of Theorem 6, it is easy to obtain the result of Theorem 8.
We extend the plant , and L and C are parallel connection. as a feedback operator of G, so we have the following result.
Theorem 9. K is a stabilizing controller with internal loop for L if and only if I − FG is invertible in M3(S).
Proof. F is a stabilizing controller for G if and only if
If (I − FG) −1 ∈ M3(S), then F(I − GF) −1 = (I − FG) −1F ∈ M3(S). Since (I − GF) −1 = I + G(I − FG) −1F, thus we only need to prove G(I − FG) −1 ∈ M3(S). Consider F2 = I; thus G(I − FG) −1 = F2G(I − FG) −1 = F[FG(I − FG) −1] = F[(I − FG) −1 − (I − FG)(I − FG) −1] = F(I − FG) −1 − F. If (I − FG) −1 ∈ M3(S), then G(I − FG) −1 ∈ M3(S).
Conversely, it is obvious.
4. Canonical and Dual Canonical Controllers
Another motivation for introducing controllers with internal loop is to obtain Youla parameterization. If the plant is not strictly proper, it is difficult to choose the parameter in such way that the resulting controller will be well-posed. Even if we choose to ignore well-posedness, we still have to ensure that the denominator in the Youla parameterization is invertible. By contrast, we can obtain a parameterization for all stabilizing canonical or dual canonical controllers.
In following, we analyze the properties of (dual) canonical controllers in some detail. First, we recall Lemma 10 from [15].
Lemma 10 (see [15].)The canonical controller stabilizes L ∈ £ with internal loop if and only if
If L ∈ £ has a right-coprime factorization L = NM−1, then K stabilizes L with internal loop if and only if
We now turn to the problem of simultaneous stabilization. Given L0 ∈ S and L1 ∈ £, the following Corollaries 11 and 12 give the conditions that L1 − L0 can be stabilized by some canonical controller.
Corollary 11. If L0 ∈ S and L1 ∈ £ can be simultaneously stabilized by canonical controller , then L1 − L0 can be strongly stabilized by some canonical controller.
Proof. If is a strong right representation of L1, then is a strong right representation of L1 − L0, since
Suppose stabilizes L1 − L0; then by Lemma 10,
Corollary 12. Suppose L0 ∈ S, L1 ∈ £, and is a strong right representation of L1. If L1 can be stabilized by canonical controller , then L1 − L0 can be stabilized by some canonical controller.
Proof. Since L0 ∈ S, then is a strong right representation of L1 − L0. By Lemma 10, stabilizes L1 if and only if D = M1 − K22M1 − K21N1 is invertible in S. Suppose stabilizes L1 − L0; then by Lemma 10,
The conditions of Corollary 12 are weaker than those of Corollary 11. In following, we will discuss the stabilization of {L, K} with coprime factorizations.
Theorem 13. The canonical controller stabilizes L if and only if Δ = I − K22 − K21L ∈ £ is invertible in S and LΔ−1 ∈ S.
Proof. Let K11 = 0, K12 = I, K21, K22 ∈ S; from Theorem 8, we have that Δ = I − K22 − K21L ∈ £ is invertible in S and LΔ−1 ∈ S.
Remark 14. When K11 = 0, , thus K11 = 0 is an admissible controller for L; we do not need to emphasize this in Theorem 13.
Remark 15. By Remark 14, L ∈ £, but , K11 = 0 is not a stabilizing controller for L, but is a stabilizing controller with internal loop for L.
Theorem 16. If L has right coprime factorization NM−1, then L can be stabilized by canonical controller if and only if M − K22M − K21N is invertible in S.
Proof. By Theorem 13, {L, K} is stable if and only if Δ−1, LΔ−1 ∈ S. Consider L = NM−1; then Δ−1 = M(M − K22M − K21N) −1, LΔ−1 = N(M − K22M − K21N) −1. If M − K22M − K21N ∈ S, then Δ−1, LΔ−1 ∈ S. Conversely, if Δ−1, LΔ−1 ∈ S and , then .
Theorem 17. If L has right coprime factorization NM−1 if and only if L can be stabilized by some canonical controller.
Proof. If NM−1 is right coprime factorization of L, there exist Y, X ∈ S such that . Take K21 = −X ∈ S, K22 = I − Y ∈ S; then M − K22M − K21N = YM + XN = I is invertible in S. By Theorem 13, stabilizes L.
Conversely, If stabilizes L, by Theorem 13, Δ−1 ∈ S, LΔ−1 ∈ S. Take M = Δ−1, N = LΔ−1, Y = I − K22 ∈ S, X = −K21 ∈ S; then YM + XN = (I − K22)Δ−1 − K21LΔ−1 = I; thus, NM−1 is right coprime factorization of L.
We expect a strong relationship between stabilization with internal loop and the usual concept of stabilization by the parameterization of all stabilizing (dual) canonical controllers.
Theorem 18. Suppose that L has a doubly coprime factorization; then all canonical controllers that stabilize L with internal loop are parameterized by
Proof. Take , , where E ∈ S∩S−1, Q ∈ S; then ; by Theorem 17, K stabilizes L.
Conversely, if K stabilizes L, by Theorem 16, D = M − K22M − K21N is invertible in S. Consider I = D−1(I − K22)M − D−1K21N; thus is a left inverse of . By Theorem 17, there exist Q ∈ S such that , , rewrite these as , .
The following Theorem contains the dual statements of Theorems 13, 16, 17 and 18.
Theorem 19. (a) The dual canonical controller stabilizes L if and only if is invertible in S and .
(b) If L has left coprime factorization , then L can be stabilized by canonical controller if and only if is invertible in S.
(c) If L has left coprime factorization if and only if L can be stabilized by some dual canonical controller.
(d) Suppose that L has a doubly coprime factorization, then all dual canonical controllers that stabilize L with internal loop are parameterized by
The Proof of (c). Suppose , there exist such that . Let , , then , L can be stabilized by .
Conversely, if L can be stabilized by , by (1), , . Let , , , , then , , thus is a left coprime factorization of L.
Theorem 20. If the canonical controller stabilizes L, then L can be stabilized by the dual canonical controller .
Proof. If L can be stabilized by the canonical controller , by Theorems 13 and 17, Δ−1 = (I − K22 − K21L) −1 ∈ S, LΔ−1 ∈ S, and L has a right coprime factorization. From [17], we known that L has a left coprime factorization and there exist such that . Let , . In the following, we need to prove (1) and (2) stabilizes L.
= = = .
Since = + + , so .
− is invertible in S, = . By Theorem 19(a), stabilizes L.
Notice that if a canonical K stabilizes L with internal loop, then K21 and I − K22 are left coprime, since (I − K22Δ−1) − K21LΔ−1 = I. Theorem 20 has a dual statement for right-coprime factorizations K.
There is a similar result for the dual canonical controller.
Theorem 21. If the dual canonical controller stabilizes L, then L can be stabilized by the dual canonical controller .
The proof of Theorem 21 is similar to that of Theorem 20, and we omit it.
5. Conclusion
In this paper, we investigate the dynamic stabilization of a large class of transfer functions in the framework of nest algebra. To obtain a natural generalization of dynamic stabilization, we introduce a new concept of stabilization by a controller with internal loop. The concept enables a simple Youla parameterization and has some advantages which turn out to be very important for infinite-dimensional systems. It makes the theory of dynamic stabilization simpler and more natural.
We also analyze canonical and dual canonical controllers, which are controllers with internal loop of a special (simple) structure. We have found that these are closely related to (doubly) coprime factorization, and we have given a complete parameterization of all stabilizing controllers with internal loop which are (dual) canonical.
Conflict of Interests
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper.