Determining flatness for complex nonlinear systems

Abstract

Fliess et al. (1992, 1993) developed the concept of a flat system and showed how it can be useful in the construction of nonlinear controllers. For large complex systems of possibly high relative degree the checking of flatness may be difficult and time consuming. The present authors show how it is possible to quickly check numerically for flatness even for complex implicitly formulated nonlinear systems.