Output-feedback control of nonlinear plants

For multiinput-multioutput nonlinear plants whose state-feedback control problem is solvable with complete or partial output linearization, the output-feedback problem is addressed by combining the state-feedback controller with a suitable closed-loop state inferer (detector). A candidate closed-loop detector was built to study the stability of the resulting plant-controller interconnection. As a result, sufficient conditions for closed-loop asymptotic nominal stability as well as a systematic and simple design-tuning procedure, are obtained. The stabilization of an open-loop, unstable, free-radical homopolymerization reactor was studied as an application example.