State-variable models are made of first-order differential equations, allowing linear algebra to be used to solve problems. They are formed by defining higher-order derivatives as a cascade of first-order derivatives.

Generally, we have various time derivatives of some function :

We then use:

Examples

Mass-Spring-Damper

An example is the typical mass-spring-damper system:

We define:

Then, we can re-write the original equation as:

Thus, we’ve reduced our original 2nd-order equation to two first-order equations:

This is our state-variable model. The variables and are the state variables.

3rd Order System

A third order system:

Re-arrange so that highest order variable is isolated:

Since this is 3rd order, we expect three 1st-order ODEs to describe the system.

We define

Now, our state-variable model is::

In vector-matrix form, we can write:

The output can also be described in matrix form:

Standard State-Variable Model

The standard form of a state variable model is given by the state equation and the output equation.

State equation:

where:

  • is the derivative of the state vector,
  • is the system/state matrix,
  • is the state vector,
  • is the input/control matrix,
  • is the input vector,

Essentially, and are column vectors containing the state variables and the inputs, if any.

Output Equation

Output equation:

where:

  • is the output vector,
  • is the state output matrix,
  • is the state vector,
  • is the control output,
  • is the input vector,

Note that in general.