Observer-based boundary control of distributed port-Hamiltonian systems

An observer-based boundary controller for infinite-dimensional port-Hamiltonian systems defined on 1D spatial domains is proposed. The design is based on an early-lumping approach in which a finite-dimensional approximation of the infinite-dimensional system derived by spatial discretization is used to design the observer and the controller. As long as the finite-dimensional approximation approaches the infinite-dimensional model, the performances also do. The main contribution is a constructive method which guarantees that the interconnection between the controller and the infinite-dimensional system is asymptotically stable. A Timoshenko beam model has been used to illustrate the approach.