On controllability of discrete-time bilinear systems by near-controllability

In this paper, controllability of discrete-time bilinear systems is studied. By applying a recent result on near-controllability, a new sufficient condition for controllability of the systems is presented, where controllability is proved by approximation with near-controllability. The new condition is algebraically verifiable and is hence easy to apply compared with a classical result on controllability of discrete-time bilinear systems, which can be effective even when the classical result does not work. Furthermore, the control inputs to achieve the transition of the systems between any given pair of states are approximately computable according to near-controllability. Therefore, near-controllability can be used to not only better characterize the system properties, but also prove controllability with computable control inputs. The new condition is then generalized to derive similar results on controllability and near-controllability of the systems. Finally, examples are given to illustrate the results of this paper. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.