On controllability, near-controllability, controllable subspaces, and nearly-controllable subspaces of a class of discrete-time multi-input bilinear systems

This paper considers a class of discrete-time multi-input inhomogeneous bilinear systems. The structure of such systems is most close to linear time-invariant systems’ but they own a strong property. That is, if the systems are uncontrollable, they can still be nearly controllable. Necessary and sufficient conditions for controllability and near-controllability of the systems are established by using a classical decomposition. Furthermore, a geometric characterization is given for the systems such that controllable subspaces and nearly-controllable subspaces are derived and characterized. Similar results on controllability are also obtained for the continuous-time counterparts of the systems. Finally, examples are provided to demonstrate the conceptions and results of this paper.