Abstract
A simple and direct procedure for designing unknown input observers for continuous descriptor systems is presented. The design of a state observer is investigated and an extension to estimate a linear function of the state and input is proposed. The chosen approach is based on the transformation of the system state space representation into particular design coordinates via a generalized matrix inversion technique. Assuming that the measurement matrix is full line rank involves many calculation simplifications. Special emphasis on the computational aspect of the observer matrices is provided. An illustrative example is also included.