Learning of Causal Observable Functions for Koopman-DFL Lifting Linearization of Nonlinear Controlled Systems and Its Application to Excavation Automation

Abstract

Effective and causal observable functions for loworder lifting linearization of nonlinear controlled systems are learned from data by using neural networks. While Koopman operator theory allows us to represent a nonlinear system as a linear system in an infinite-dimensional space of observables, exact linearization is guaranteed only for autonomous systems with no input, and finding effective observable functions for approximation with a low-order linear system remains an open question. Dual Faceted Linearization uses a set of effective observables for low-order lifting linearization, but the method requires knowledge of the physical structure of the nonlinear system. Here, a data-driven method is presented for generating a set of nonlinear observable functions that can accurately approximate a nonlinear control system to a low-order linear control system. A caveat in using data of measured variables as observables is that the measured variables may contain input to the system, which incurs a causality contradiction when lifting the system, i.e. taking derivatives of the observables. The current work presents a method for eliminating such anti-causal components of the observables and lifting the system using only causal observables. The method is applied to excavation automation, a complex nonlinear dynamical system, to obtain a low-order lifted linear model for control design.