A finite dimensional sliding mode observer for a spatially continuous process

Modeling and control of systems represented by Partial Differential Equations (PDEs) is an interesting research field as the process under investigation is infinite dimensional and most commonly used techniques are for finite dimensional systems. This paper considers the development of a finite dimensional observer obtained after an appropriate model reduction stage. A sliding mode observer is considered as it utilizes the sign of a quantity and ensures good reconstruction performance. The paper compares the fictitious state variables that are obtained after projecting the instantaneous snapshots on an eigenbasis and the state variables predicted by the observer. The results emphasize that the designed observer functions well on some set of operating conditions, which are elaborated in the paper.