On the use of state observers in compartmental systems control

Abstract

In this paper we analyse the performance of stateobservers in the control of compartmental systems under the presence of uncertainties in the system initial state. We combine a state feedback law with positivity constraints and a state observer and prove that, as expected, the mass control objective is still attained. Moreover we show that, for a class of threecompartmental systems of interest, the resulting mass control law also allows reaching a desired steady state. Our results are illustrated by several simulations for the control of the administration of a neuromuscular relaxant to patients undergoing surgery, which show the relevance of incorporating an observer for convergence acceleration even in case the original system is asymptotically stable.