Controllability of a hovercraft model (and two general results)

• Published in: 2004 43rd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC) (IEEE Cat. No.04CH37601) Vol. 2; pp. 1204 - 1209 Vol.2
• Main Authors: Tyner, D.R., Lewis, A.D.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Piscataway NJ IEEE 2004
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Computer science; control theory; systems; Control system analysis; Control systems; Control theory; Control theory. Systems; Controllability; Councils; Exact sciences and technology; Mathematics; Mechanical systems; Physics; Propulsion; Statistical analysis; Hovercraft; Large system; Controllability; Quadratic form; Modeling; Analytical function; Thrust
• DOI: 10.1109/CDC.2004.1430205
• ISBN: 9780780386822; 0780386825
• ISSN: 0191-2216

Modelling and controllability studies of a hovercraft system are undertaken. The system studied is a little more complicated than some in the literature in that the inertial dynamics of the thrust fan are taken into account. The system is shown to be representative of a large class of systems that are controllable only on a set described by the zeros, of a nontrivial analytic function. Results for controllability using vector-valued quadratic forms are useful in arriving at the stated conclusions. As part of the development, two controllability results of independent interest are proved.