Observer design for nonlinear systems with discrete-time measurements

This paper focuses on the development of asymptotic observers for nonlinear discrete-time systems. It is argued that instead of trying to imitate the linear observer theory, the problem of constructing a nonlinear observer can be more fruitfully studied in the context of solving simultaneous nonlinear equations. In particular, it is shown that the discrete Newton method, properly interpreted, yields an asymptotic observer for a large class of discrete-time systems, while the continuous Newton method may be employed to obtain a global observer. Furthermore, it is analyzed how the use of Broyden´s method in the observer structure affects the observer´s performance and its computational complexity. An example illustrates some aspects of the proposed methods; moreover, it serves to show that these methods apply equally well to discrete-time systems and to continuous-time systems with sampled outputs