# ctrb

Controllability matrix

Co = ctrb(A,B)
Co = ctrb(sys)

## Description

Co = ctrb(A,B) returns the controllability matrix:

$Co=\left[\begin{array}{ccccc}B& AB& {A}^{2}B& \dots & {A}^{n-1}B\end{array}\right]$

where A is an n-by-n matrix, B is an n-by-m matrix, and Co has n rows and nm columns.

Co = ctrb(sys) calculates the controllability matrix of the state-space LTI object sys. This syntax is equivalent to:

Co = ctrb(sys.A,sys.B);

The system is controllable if Co has full rank n.

## Examples

collapse all

Define A and B matrices.

A = [1  1;
4 -2];
B = [1 -1;
1 -1];

Compute controllability matrix.

Co = ctrb(A,B);

Determine the number of uncontrollable states.

unco = length(A) - rank(Co)
unco = 1

The uncontrollable state indicates that Co does not have full rank 2. Therefore the system is not controllable.

## Limitations

Estimating the rank of the controllability matrix is ill-conditioned; that is, it is very sensitive to roundoff errors and errors in the data. An indication of this can be seen from this simple example.

$A=\begin{array}{cc}\left[\begin{array}{cc}1& \delta \\ 0& 1\end{array}\right],& B=\left[\begin{array}{l}1\\ \delta \end{array}\right]\end{array}$

This pair is controllable if $\delta \ne 0$ but if $\delta <\sqrt{eps}$, where eps is the relative machine precision. ctrb(A,B) returns

$\left[\begin{array}{cc}B& AB\end{array}\right]=\left[\begin{array}{cc}1& 1\\ \delta & \delta \end{array}\right]$

which is not full rank. For cases like these, it is better to determine the controllability of a system using ctrbf.

## Version History

Introduced before R2006a