Nonlinear observer design for systems with multivariable monotone nonlinearities

Globally convergent observers are designed for a class of systems with multivariable nonlinearities. The approach is to represent the observer error system as the feedback interconnection of a linear system and a state-dependent multivariable nonlinearity. We first extend an earlier design to multivariable nonlinearities, satisfying a nondecreasing property. Next, we exploit the structure of the nonlinearity to relax the positive real restriction on the linear part of the observer error system. This relaxed design renders the feasibility conditions less restrictive, and widens the applicability of the observer, as illustrated with examples.