Data-Driven Inverse of Linear Systems and Application to Disturbance Observers

This work develops a data-based construction of inverse dynamics for LTI systems. Specifically, the problem addressed here is to find an input sequence from the corresponding output sequence based on pre-collected input and output data. The problem can be considered as a reverse of the recent use of the behavioral approach, in which the output sequence is obtained for a given input sequence by solving an equation formed by pre-collected data. The condition under which the problem gives a solution is investigated and turns out to be L-delay invertibility of the plant and a certain degree of persistent excitation of the data input. The result is applied to form a data-driven disturbance observer. The plant dynamics augmented by the data-driven disturbance observer exhibits disturbance rejection without the model knowledge of the plant.