A dynamic output feedback controller with compensation for sensor quantization

A technique to minimize measurement quantization effects in feedback controllers is presented. The approach treats quantization as a measurement error that can be reduced by a modified state estimator that the author presented in an earlier work. The resulting control method lakes the form of a dynamic output feedback controller in which the state estimator is modified to compensate for measurement quantization. The new result addresses a practical problem in industrial electronics, where many modern electronic sensors produce quantized outputs (e. incremental encoder), or are sampled with finite quantization in digital control applications (e.g. N-bit analog-to-digital converter). The earlier method for state estimation compensation worked only for asymptotically stable plants, but in the design example presented here the combination of feedback control and compensated state estimation appears to be effective for "weakly" unstable plants.