Linearization of discrete-time systems

Abstract

We characterize the equivalence of single-input single-output discrete-time nonlinear systems to linear ones, via a state-coordinate change and with or without feedback. Four cases are distinguished by allowing or disallowing feedback as well as by including the output map or not; the interdependence of these problems is analyzed. An important feature that distinguishes these discrete-time problems from the corresponding problem in continuous-time is that the state-coordinate transformation is here directly computable as a higher composition of the system and output maps. Finally, certain connections are made with the continuous-time case.