Summary
This paper is concerned with the design and the synthesis of the impulsive positive observer (IPO) for positive linear continuous systems. The IPO can estimate the states for positive systems even when the measured output is only available at discrete‐time instants. In this paper, a time‐varying weighted copositive Lyapunov function is constructed, and the upper and lower bounds of impulsive intervals method combined with the convex combination technique are used to establish sufficient conditions for the existence of the IPO. Furthermore, the design of the dynamic output feedback controller based on the IPO is addressed to positively stabilize positive linear systems. Algorithms are given to design the IPO and the controller, respectively. Finally, two numerical examples are provided to show the effectiveness of the theoretical results. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.