Reduced-order proper H∞ controllers for descriptor systems:: Existence conditions and LMI-based design algorithms

In this paper, we present a new approach to investigate the existence and design of reduced-order proper H-infinity controllers that provide the same level of performance as that of full-order controllers. By revealing some special features of the LMI-based solvability conditions for the H-infinity control problem for descriptor systems, we obtain a refined bound on the order of H-infinity controllers, which is independent of (invariant under the allowed transformations on) a descriptor realization of the generalized plant. Moreover, we provide two LMI-based algorithms to design the reduced-order controllers and demonstrate the validity of the presented theoretical results via two numerical examples. This paper not only extends in a satisfying way the results on reduced-order H-infinity controllers for state-space systems to descriptor systems, but also provides insight into the mechanism by which the order of H-infinity controllers for descriptor systems can be reduced through a consideration of the unstable finite zeros or infinite zeros.