Proceedings of the 18th World Congress

The International Federation of Automatic Control

Milano (Italy) August 28 - September 2, 2011

Unknown-input observation techniques in

Open Channel Hydraulic Systems
Siro Pillosu, Alessandro Pisano, Elio Usai

Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (DIEE)

University of Cagliari (e-mail: siro.pillosu,pisano,eusai@diee.unica.it).

Abstract: This paper addresses a problem of state and disturbance estimation for an open
channel hydraulic system. More precisely, a cascade of n canal reaches, joined by gates, is
considered, and, by using measurements of the water level in three points per reach, we design
an observer capable of estimating both the infiltration and discharge in the middle point of
each reach. To facilitate the observer design, the system dynamics is modeled by considering a
linearized approximation of the underlying nonlinear dynamics around the subcritical uniform
flow condition. The proposed solution is based on the unknown-input and proportional-integral
observers theory. Simulation results are discussed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed
schemes.

Keywords: Unknown-input observers, strong observability, open channel hydraulic system.

1. INTRODUCTION i.) dispense with the need of flow rate measurements by

Most open-channel hydraulic systems are currently manu-
ally operated by flow control gates. Medium-term research
goals in this field are to operate those systems automati-
cally in order to improve water distribution efficiency and
safety. A key problem is to reconstruct all the information
needed for control or monitoring purposes (water levels,
flow rates, and infiltrations), some of which are intrinsi-
cally impossible or difficult to measure, by reducing the
number of required sensors in the field. The aim of this
paper is the development of new estimation algorithms for
a cascade chain of open channel hydraulic systems subject
to unmeasurable disturbances. Open channel hydraulic
systems are described by two nonlinear coupled partial
differential equations (Saint-Venant Equations). The two
main methods used to solve Saint-Venant equations are ba-
sically the finite-difference method (Strelkoff et al. (1970))
and the finite-element method (Colley et al. (1976)).
In (Besancon et al. (2001)) a three-point collocation-
based nonlinear model of a single-reach irrigation canal
was developed. In that model, the three points of interest
where the system variables are evaluated are the canal
start, middle and end points, respectively, and a constant
uncertain infiltrations is taken into account. An observer
for the level variables and for the constant infiltration was
designed by measuring the level in the middle of the reach
and the upstream and downstream flows. Our develop-
ments take, as a starting point, the results presented in
(Besancon et al. (2001)) for a single-reach canal. Here the
main task is to consider a cascade of n canal reaches
instead of a single reach, and to relax some of the standing
modeling assumptions made in Besancon et al. (2001).
More precisely we:
⋆ The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the
FP7 European Research Projects “PRODI - Power plants Robustifi-
cation by fault Diagnosis and Isolation techniques”, grant no.224233.
allowing only level measurements;
ii.) consider a time varying infiltration;
iii.) consider, in the case of absence of infiltration, a num-
ber of sensors less then those normally required.
Section 2 recalls the Saint-Venant equations that rigor-
ously describe the dynamics of a canal reach. In Section
3 the three-point collocation based nonlinear model of
a single reach presented in (Besancon et al. (2001)), is
extended to a cascade of n canal reaches. In Section 4,
the two estimation problems addressed in the manuscript
(called “Problem 1” and “Problem 2”) are stated. Prob-
lem 1 involves the simplifying assumption of absence of
infiltration, and, as a counterpart, it considers certain
level variables to be unavailable for measurements. The
flow variables are wanted to be estimated along with
the unmeasured level variables. Problem 2 deals with the
more general non-zero infiltration case but requires the
measurement of the level variables in all of the collocation
points (three points per channel). The flow variables are
wanted to be estimated again, along with the unknown
infiltrations, after a finite-time estimation transient.
Problem 1 and Problem 2 give rise to an observation prob-
lem for Linear Time-Invariant System with Unknown In-
puts (LTISUI). In Section 5 a method for state estimation
and unknown input reconstruction in LTISUI is recalled.
The approach is based on the assumption of ”Strong Ob-
servability” (Molinari et al. (1976); Hautus et al. (1983);
Bejarano et al. (2007)), a structural geometric restriction
involving the matrices of the LTISUI mathematical model.
In the Section 6, a case study of a canal with rectangular
section and three reaches in cascade is illustrated. In the
successive Sections 7 and 8 the techniques described in the
Section 5 are applied to solve the estimation Problem 1 and
Problem 2, respectively. It is shown, in both cases, that
the structural requirement of strong observability holds

978-3-902661-93-7/11/$20.00 © 2011 IFAC 1151 10.3182/20110828-6-IT-1002.00650

18th IFAC World Congress (IFAC'11)
Milano (Italy) August 28 - September 2, 2011

for the resulting models, and corresponding simulation Bi (i = 1, 2, ..., n) the equation (3) can be discretized as
results are illustrated and commented, which will confirm follows (Besancon et al. (2001)):
the expected performance of the suggested observers. 1 wi
ḢAi = [−4QMi + 3QAi + QBi ] +
Bi Li Bi
2. FORMULATION OF THE PROBLEM 1 wi
ḢMi = [QAi − QBi ] + (6)
Bi Li Bi
Water flow dynamics in an open channel are governed by 1 wi
ḢBi = [4QMi − QAi − 3QBi ] +
the Saint-Venant Equations Bi Li Bi

∂S ∂Q p
+ =w (1) QAi = ηi Σi 2g(HBi−1 − HAi ) (7)
∂t ∂x
∂Q ∂(Q2 /S)

∂H

Q QBi = QCi + QAi+1 =
+ + gS − I + J = kq (w) w p
∂t ∂x ∂x S = QCi + ηi+1 Σi+1 2g(HBi − HAi+1 ) (8)
(2) where HAi , HMi and HBi (i = 1, 2, ..., n) are the state
where x ∈ [0, L] is the spatial variable (L being the channel variables, QAi , QMi and QBi (i = 1, 2, ..., n) denote the
length), t being the time variable, and S(x, t), Q(x, t) and flow at the collocation points, wi (i = 1, 2, ..., n) is the
H(x, t) being the wet section, water flow rate and relative infiltration in the i−th reach, ηj and Σi (i = 1, 2, ..., n + 1)
water level, respectively, and the term w = w(x, t) in are the discharge coefficients and the opening sections of
the right-hand side of (1), (2) represents the infiltration. the i-th gate, and QCi is the widthdrawal request form the
J represents the friction term, which has the expression users. HB0 and HAn+1 represent the constant levels in the

2 upstream and downstream reservoirs. Considering (7) and
J = Q|Q|
Di2 , Di = kS P
S 3
, with k being Strickler friction (8) into (6) one obtains a more compact expression for the
coefficient and P (x, t) being the transversal wet length, system’s nonlinear dynamics:
and I is the canal slope. Finally the term kq (w) is 0 if 1
w ≥ 0 and 1 if w < 0. In this paper we refer to the case of ḢAi = [fA (HBi−1 , HBi , HAi , HAi+1 , Σi , Σi+1 )−
positive infiltration (w ≥ 0) and to canals with rectangular Bi Li
wi
section, so if B is the constant canal width one has that −4QMi + QCi ] +
Bi
S = BH and P = B + 2H. 1
Thus, model (1)-(2) can be rewritten in terms of the Q ḢMi = [fM (HBi−1 , HBi , HAi , HAi+1 , Σi , Σi+1 )−
Bi Li (9)
and H variables only, and, in particular, eq. (1) modifies wi
as −QCi ] +
Bi
∂H 1 ∂Q 1 1
=− + w (3) ḢBi = [fB (HBi−1 , HBi , HAi , HAi+1 , Σi , Σi+1 )+
∂t B ∂x B Bi Li
wi
+4QMi − 3QCi ] +
If the slope of the canal is low, as it is the case, e.g., Bi
in irrigation channels, it can be assumed subcritical flow
condition which makes it reasonable to complement (1) with implicit definition of the nonlinear functions fA (·),
with the Dirichlet boundary conditions (BCs) fM (·) and fB (·). The dynamic relationship between the
middle point flow variable QMi and the remaining system
variables can be derived by generalizing the ”single-reach
Q(0, t) = QU (t), Q(L, t) = QD (t). (4) canal” relationship (Dulhoste et al. (2001)) as follows:
H(0, t) = H0 ; H(L, t) = HL (5)
Initial conditions are given by H(x, 0) = H (x) and 0 Q̇Mi = ψiq (QAi , QBi , QMi , HAi , HMi , HBi , wi )
Q(x, 0) = Q0 (x), which fulfill the considered BCs (4)-(5).
 
HAi − HBi
= gBi HMi I + + (10)
Li
3. COLLOCATION-BASED FINITE-DIMENSIONAL  
2(QAi − QBi ) QMi
MODEL + +
BLi HMi
!
In (Dulhoste et al. (2001)) it was shown that the Saint- HBi − HAi g
+ − Q2Mi
Venant equations can be approximated by ordinary dif- 2
Bi Li HMi K Bi HMi ( BB
2 i HM i
4
)3
i +2HM i
ferential equations of finite dimension using a collocation
point Galerkin method (Fletcher et al. (1984)). It has
3.1 Linearized Model
been also shown that three collocation points located at
the canal upstream, middle, and downstream points (say
points A, M , and B, respectively) lead to a sufficiently The nonlinear model (9) can be linearized in a vicinity of
accurate representation for observation and control pur- the uniform flow condition (Corriga et al. (1983)). Let Qi
poses. Consider a cascade of n canal reaches connecting (i = 1, 2, ..., n), denote the flow value in the i-th channel in
the two upstream and downstream reservoirs, separated the uniform flow condition. Let also H i (i = 1, 2, ..., n) be
by n + 1 adjustable gates, and subject to infiltration the corresponding water levels, and Σj (j = 1, 2, ..., n + 1)
losses, as represented in the Figure 1. By choosing three be the corresponding values for the gates opening sections.
collocation points for each channel, and using the same Define the corresponding variables hAi , hMi , hBi , qMi , and
notation as before to denote the resulting points Ai , Mi , σi like the deviation of HAi , HMi , HBi , QMi and Σi from

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Milano (Italy) August 28 - September 2, 2011

Fig. 1. Cascade of n canal reaches with infiltration losses.

the uniform condition, then relation (7) can be linearized linearized since vector qM is going to be treated as an
as follows in a vicinity of the uniform flow condition unknown input of the systems, rather than as a part of
(Corriga et al. (1983)) the system state. It is also possible to consider a reduced-
QAi = Qi + ai σi (t) + bi [hBi−1 (t) − hAi (t)] (11) order version of system (21) where the state vector h is
replaced by the reduced-order version
with the coefficients ai and bi as follows h̃ = [hA1 hB1 hA2 ...hAn hBn ]T h̃ ∈ R2n (23)
√
ηi Σi 2g
q
ai = ηi 2g(H i−1 − H i ); bi = q (12) The corresponding reduced-order state space model is
2(H i−1 − H i ) given by
˙ (24)
The corresponding linearized form for (8) can be derived h̃ = Ãh̃ + M̃σ σ + M̃q qM + M̃w w,
from the next continuity equation
whose matrices Ã, M̃σ , M̃q , M̃w can be trivially derived by
QBi = QAi+1 + QCi , i = 1, ...n (13)
removing selected rows and columns from the matrices
which leads to A, Mσ , Mq , Mw of the full-order model (21)
QBi = QCi + Qi+1 + ai+1 σi+1 + bi+1 [hBi − hAi+1 ] (14) 4. FLOW AND INFILTRATION ESTIMATION
with i = 1, 2, ..., n and the deviation variables hAn+1 and PROBLEM STATEMENT
hB0 customarily set both to zero as a consequence of the
fact that the water level in the upstream and downstream In this paper we make reference to the linearized dynamics
reservoirs is supposed to keep constant (21) and we address two distinct state and disturbance
estimation problems under the common constraint that
hAn+1 = 0; hB0 = 0 (15) only level measurements are allowed. Vector σ is
Substituting (11)-(14) into (6)-(8), considering the conti- supposed to be known, while vectors w and qM are both
nuity condition and the definitions unmeasurable. We cast the following problems:
Qi = Qi+1 + QCi ; i = 1, ...n (16) Problem 1. By measuring only a portion of the reduced-
order state vector h̃, and assuming no infiltrations (w = 0),
h = [hA1 hM1 hB1 ...hAn hMn hBn ]T , h ∈ R3n estimate the flow vector qM and reconstruct the unmea-
sured part of vector h̃.
σ = [σ1 σ2 ...σn+1 ]T , σ ∈ Rn+1 (17)
T n Problem 2. By measuring the full vector h, reconstruct
qM = [qM1 qM2 ...qMn ] , q∈R (18)
the infiltration vector w and the flow vector qM in finite
w = [w1 w2 ...wn ]T w ∈ Rn (19) time.
(20) Both Problems 1 and 2 will be solved by making use of
one can rewrite the system (9) in the compact state-space unknown-input observers (UIO) under the requirement of
form “strong observability” (Molinari et al. (1976); Hautus et
ḣ = Ah + Mσ σ + Mq qM + Mw w (21) al. (1983)) for certain subsystems that shall be specified
later on.
with implicitly defined constant matrices A, Mσ , Mq
and Mw of appropriate dimension. Vector qM is obtained 5. STRONG OBSERVABILITY AND UIO DESIGN
solving the nonlinear differential equation FOR LINEAR SYSTEMS WITH UNKNOWN INPUTS
q̇M = ψ(h, qM , σ, w) = [ψ1q (·), ψ2q (·), . . . ψnq (·)]T (22)
Consider the linear time invariant dynamics
with the functions ψiq (·) (i = 1, 2, ..., n) are defined in (10). ẋ = Ax + Gu + F ξ
Note that the nonlinear dynamics (22)needs not to be (25)
y = Cx

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where x ∈ Rn and y ∈ Rp are the state and output observability of the (Ā11 , C̄1 ) permits the implementation
variables, u(t) ∈ Rh is a known input to the system, of the following Luenberger observer for the x̄1 subsystem
ξ(t) ∈ Rm is an unknown input term, and A, G, F, C are of (31):
known constant matrices of appropriate dimension. Let us
make the following assumptions: ˆ˙ = Ā x̄
x̄
1 ˆ + Ā ȳ + F ⊥ Gu + L(ȳ − C̄ x̄
11 1 12 2 1 ˆ ) (33)
1 1

A1. The matrix triplet (A, F, C) is strongly observable which gives rise to the error dynamics
A2. rank (CF ) = rank F = m. ˆ 1 − x̄1
ė1 = (Ā11 − LC̄1 )e1 , e1 = x̄ (34)
If conditions A1 and A2 are satisfied then it can be system-
atically found a state coordinates transformation together whose eigenvalues can be arbitrarily located by a proper
with an output coordinates change which decouple the selection of the matrix L. Therefore, with properly chosen
unknown input ξ from a certain subsystem in the new constant matrix L we have that x̄ ˆ 1 → x̄1 as t → ∞, which
coordinates. Such a transformation is outlined below. For implies that the overall system state can be reconstructed
the generic matrix J ∈ Rnr ×nc with rankJ = r, we by the following relationships
define J ⊥ ∈ Rnr −r×nr as a matrix such that J ⊥ J = 0 x̂ = T −1 [x̄
ˆ 1 ȳ2 ]T (35)
and rankJ ⊥ = nr − r. Matrix J ⊥ always exists and,
furthermore, it is not unique 1 . Let Γ+ = [ΓT Γ]−1 ΓT ˆ 1 to x̄1 is exponential and
Note that the convergence of x̄
denote the left pseudo-inverse of Γ and it is such that can be made as fast as desired.
Γ+ Γ = Inc , with Inc being the identity matrix of order
nc . Consider the following transformation matrices 5.1 Reconstruction of the unknown inputs
⊥
F⊥
      
T1 (CF ) U1 An estimator can be designed which gives an exponen-
T = + =,U = + = (26)
(CF ) C T2 (CF ) U2 tially converging estimate of the unknown input vector ξ.
h i−1 Consider the following estimator dynamics
+ T T
(CF ) = (CF ) (CF ) (CF ) (27)
ˆ˙ = Ā x̄
x̄2 ˆ + Ā ȳ + (CF )+ CGu + v(t)
21 1 22 2 (36)
and the transformed state and output vectors with the estimator injection input v(t) yet to be specified.
x̄ = T x, ȳ = U y (28) Let it can be found a constant Ξd such that
|ξ̇(t)| ≤ Ξd (37)
Consider the following partitions of vectors x̄ and ȳ
Define the estimator sliding variable as
   
T1 x x̄1
x̄ = = , x̄1 ∈ Rn−m x̄2 ∈ Rm (29)
T2 x x̄2 ˆ 2 − ȳ2 = x̄
s = x̄ ˆ 2 − x̄2 (38)
   
U1 y ȳ
ȳ = = 1 ; ȳ1 ∈ Rp−m ȳ2 ∈ Rm (30) By (36) and (31), the dynamics of the sliding variable s
U2 y ȳ2 takes the form
After simple algebraic manipulations the transformed ṡ = f (t) − v(t), f (t) = Ā21 ē1 (t) + ξ(t) (39)
system in the new coordinates take the form:
Considering (34), the time derivative of the uncertain term
x̄˙ 1 = Ā11 x̄1 + Ā12 x̄2 + F ⊥ Gu f (t) can be evaluated as
+
x̄˙ 2 = Ā21 x̄1 + Ā22 x̄2 + (CF ) CGu + ξ (31) f˙(t) = Ā21 (Ā11 − LC̄1 )e1 (t) + ξ(t)
˙ (40)
ȳ1 = C̄1 x̄1
ȳ2 = x̄2 where e1 (t) is exponentially vanishing. Then, considering
(37), by taking any Ψ > Ξd , the next condition
with the matrices Ā11 , ..., Ā22 and C̄1 such that

Ā11 Ā11
 |f˙(t)| ≤ Ψ, t > T ∗, T∗ < ∞ (41)
⊥
= T AT −1; C̄1 = (CF ) CT1 (32)
Ā21 Ā22 will be established starting from a finite time instant
t = T ∗ on. As shown in (Levant et al. (1993)), if the
It turns out that the triple (A, C, F ) is strongly observable injection input v(t) is designed according to
if, and only if, the pair (Ā11 , C̄1 ) is observable (Molinari
et al. (1976); Hautus et al. (1983)). In light of the v (t) = λ |s|1/2 signs + v1 ; v̇1 (t) = αsign s, (42)
Assumption A1, this property, that can be also understood s
in terms of a simplified algebraic test to check the strong 1−θ Ψ−α
α > Ψ, λ> , θ ∈ (0, 1) (43)
detectability of a matrix triple, opens the way to design 1+θ Ψ+α
stable observers for the state of the transformed dynamics
(31). The peculiarity of the transformed system (31) is that then the finite-time convergence to zero of, both, the
x̄2 constitutes a part of the transformed output vector ȳ. sliding variable s and its time derivative ṡ in ensured.
Hence, the observation of the state of systems (31) Therefore, condition
can be accomplished by estimating x̄1 only, whose
v(t) = ξ(t) + Ā21 (Ā11 − LC̄1 )e1 (t) (44)
dynamics is not affected by the unknown input vector. The
1 A Matlab instruction for computing M = M ⊥ for a generic
b holds after a finite transient time. It readily follows from
matrix M is Mb = null(M′ )′ the contraction property of e1 (t) that the second term

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Milano (Italy) August 28 - September 2, 2011

in the right-hand side of (44) is exponentially vanishing,
which implies that |v(t) − ξ(t)| → 0 as t → ∞ and,
furthermore, that such convergence takes place exponen-
tially. Therefore, under the condition (37), the estimator
(36), (38), (42)-(43) allows one to reconstruct the unknown
input vector ξ acting on the original system (25).
6. CASE STUDY
We shall consider a test canal with rectangular section
and three reaches in cascade having constant width of
2 m and length, respectively, of 4 km, 5 km and 2 km.
The discharge coefficient is η = 0.6, the roughness is
1 integrated by fixed step Runge-Kutta method, with the in-
Ks = 50 ms3 ; and the constant slope is I = 0.001. The
water level in the upstream reservoir is HB0 = 3m, and in
the downstream reservoir it is HA4 = 1m. The withdrawals
3 3 3
are QC1 = 2 ms , QC2 = 2 ms , QC3 = 1 ms . The opening
section of the 4 − th gate is kept constant to the value
Σ4 = 0.538m2. The uniform flow condition is characterized
by the next operating points for the flow rates, level
3
and opening section variables, respectively: Q1 = 6.01 ms ,
3 3
Q2 = 4.00 ms , Q3 = 1.96 ms , H 1 = 2.40m, H 2 = 1.72m,
H 3 = 0.99m, Σ1 = 2.92m2 , Σ2 = 1.83m2 , Σ3 = 0.86m2 .
The opening sections of the gates 1, 2 and 3 are adjusted
according to
Σ1 = Σ1 + 0.8sin[(2π/1000)t]
Σ2 = Σ2 + 0.5sin[(2π/1000)t] (45)
Σ3 = Σ3 + 0.3sin[(2π/1000)t]
implemented the suggested scheme (33),(36), (42)-(43),
with the observer gain matrix
"
−1.7 2.1
#
L̃ = 10−3 −0.6 −3.0 (48)
−3.3 −0.9
that has been computed in order to assign the observa-
tion error matrix (Ā11 − L̃C̄1 ) the desired spectrum of
eigenvalues [-0.05,-0.05,-0.005]. The gain parameters α and
λ of the unknown
√ input reconstruction algorithm are set
as α = 1.5 5, λ = 5. The performance of the observer
are tested by means of simulations made in the Matlab-
Simulink environment. The system and the observers are
tegration step Ts = 10−4 s. The system’s initial conditions
are: h̃(0) = [0.1, 0.1, 0.1, 0.1, 0.1, 0.1]. All the observer’s
initial conditions are set to zero. For simulation purposes
the actual QM profiles are generated by solving the cor-
responding system of nonlinear differential equations (22),
with the initial conditions QM (0) = [6.01, 4.00, 1.96]. The
next Figures 2 show the actual and estimated profiles of
the unknown flow variable qM1 during the TEST 1, of
duration 500 seconds. The left and right plot show the
transient and long term behaviour. After a transient of
about twenty seconds, the estimated flow converges to-
wards the actual one. The estimation performance for the
flow variables qM2 and qM3 is pretty equivalent and it is
not shown for brevity. The reconstruction of of the unmea-
Actual and estimated flow [m3/s]
Actual and estimated flow [m3/s]
20 6.15

0 6.1
Actual

and the infiltration variables are set as w1 = w2 = w3 = −20

Estimated
6.05

0.1e−0.001t .
Actual
Estimated
−40 6

−60 5.95

7. FLOW ESTIMATION WITH PARTIAL LEVEL −80

5 10 15 20 25 30
5.9
0 100 200 300 400 500
MEASUREMENTS AND NO INFILTRATION Time [sec] Time [sec]

(PROBLEM 1)
Fig. 2. Actual and estimated flow variable qM1 in the
TEST 1
Consider the reduced-order linearized dynamics (24) by
assuming no infiltration (i.e., w = 0) according to the sured level variable hA2 is shown in the Figure 3. The left
statement of Problem 1: and right plot show the transient and long term behaviour
of teh actual and estimated variables, respectively.
h̃˙ = Ãh̃ + M̃ σ + M̃ q
σ q M (46)
Actual and estimated level [m]
300 Actual and estimated level [m]

Actual

Only five elements of vector h̃ are supposed to be mea- 250

2.6
Estimated

sured, according to the next output equation 200

150 2.55

1 0 0 00 0
 
100
2.5
0 1 0 0 0 0 50

ỹ = C̃ h̃; C̃ =  0 0 0 1 0 0  (47)
  2.45
0
0 0 0 0 1 0
−50 2.4
0 2 4 6 8 10 0 100 200 300 400 500

0 0 0 00 1 Time [sec] Time [sec]

Fig. 3. Actual and estimated level variable hA2 in the

It is worth noting that system (46)-(47) is a special case
of the general dynamics (25) with the modified notation
h̃ = x, σ = u, qM = ξ. It is easy to check that the matrix
triplet (Ã, M̃q , C̃) is strongly observable, hence the design
method previously described can be applied to reconstruct,
both, the unknown vector qM and the unmeasured
level variable hA2 . By computing the matrices of the
transformed system dynamics, it can be readily verified
that (Ā11 , C̄1 ) is an observable pair. Therefore, it can be
TEST 1
8. FLOW AND INFILTRATION ESTIMATION WITH
FULL LEVEL MEASUREMENTS (PROBLEM 2)
We consider here the full-order model (21), and we assume
the availability for measurement of the entire state vector
h ∈ ℜ3n ≡ ℜ9 , i.e. the considered output is y = h.

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The problem here is to reconstruct after a finite-time
observation transient the unknown input terms, namely
the discharge qM in the middle of the channels and
the infiltration vector w. System (21) along with the
considered output equation y = h can be rewritten as
ḣ = Ah + Mσ σ + [Mq Mw ] · [qM w]T
y = Ch
which belongs to the class of dynamics (25) with the
T design procedures are constructively illustrated along the
modified notation h = x, σ = u, [qM wT ]T = ξ,
Mσ = G and [Mq Mw ] = F , and with the output
transformation matrix C = I (I being the identity matrix
of 9 − th order). It is easy to check that the matrix
triplet (A, [Mq Mw ], I) is strongly observable. Since the
state vector is supposed to be fully available, a simplified
version of the design methodology previously described
can be applied to reconstruct the unknown vectors qM
and w. Since the state vector is already available, only
the observer (38)-(43) for reconstructing the unknown
input is necessary. The gain parameters α and √ λ of the
observation algorithm are set as α = 1.5 5, λ = 5.
The performance of the observer are tested by means
of simulations. For simulation purposes the actual QM
profiles are generated by solving the corresponding system
of nonlinear differential equations (22), with the initial
conditions QM (0) = [6.01, 4.00, 1.96] The next Figures 4
show the actual and estimated profiles of the unknown
flow variable qM2 during the TEST 2, of duration 100
seconds. The left and right plot show the transient and
long term behaviour. After a transient of about half a
second, the estimated flow converges towards the actual
one. The estimation performance for the flow variables
qM1 and qM3 is pretty equivalent and it is not shown for
brevity.The reconstruction of of the unknown infiltration
variable w3 is shown in the Figure 5. The left and right
plot show the transient and long term behaviour, which
show a satisfactory behaviour according to the presented
analysis results.
Actual and estimated flow [m3/s]
4.5
Actual
Estimated
4
3.5
3
2.5
2 2
0 0.2 0.4 0.6
Time [sec]
0.8
Fig. 4. Actual and estimated flow variable qM2 in the
TEST 2
3 3
Actual and estimated infiltration [m /s]
0.5
0 0.08
−0.5
−1
−1.5
−2
Actual
−2.5 Estimated
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
Time [sec]
Fig. 5. Actual and estimated infiltration variable w3 in the
TEST 2
9. CONCLUSIONS
A linear UIO and a nonlinear sliding mode disturbance
observer (DO) have been combined to reconstruct water
level, discharge and infiltration variables in open chan-
nel irrigation canals connected in cascade and subject to
(49) unknown time varying infiltrations. The underlying, col-
location based, nonlinear dynamics are linearized around
the subcritical uniform flow condition. The UIO and DO
paper. Simulation results using realistic data are discussed
to verify the effectiveness of the proposed schemes. The
decentralization of the scheme (e.g. by consensus-based
methodologies), and/or its use to address observer-based
controller design problems, could be interesting tasks for
future research efforts.
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1 0 20 40 60
Time [sec]
80 100
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Actual and estimated infiltration [m /2]
0.1
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
0 20 40 60 80 100
Time [sec]
1156