Nonlinear implicit state-observer design for the monitoring of open-channel hydraulic systems

This paper considers the design of a nonlinear implicit state-observer for the monitoring of large-scale open-channel hydraulic systems. This state-observer is designed on the basis of a discretized version of the nonlinear partial differential equations governing open-channel hydraulics, the Preissmann equations. As these equations are time-implicit, the state-observer appears to be also time-implicit. Furthermore, the author proposes a methodology for finding the optimal sensor location on the basis of the transient observability gramian of a linearized finite-dimensional model of the water flow dynamics. On the basis of realistic simulations, the authors demonstrate the effectiveness of the overall methodology