Near-decoupling of linear multivariable systems

Available exact-decoupling conditions by constant compensation do not address the important class of ‘nearly decouplable’ systems. For practical systems, parameter perturbations, measurement errors and system-modelling inaccuracies may conceal the system decouplability by constant- or low-order compensation, thus calling for unnecessarily high-order dynamics. In this paper, state-space decoupling conditions formulated as rank-degeneracy conditions are used to detect how close a system is to one that is exactly decouplable. The procedure simultaneously provides the compensators necessary to achieve the indicated level of decoupling. The conditions are extended to cases where it is required to use a fixed constant compensator for decoupling under different sets of perturbations