Controllability of ensembles of linear dynamical systems

Abstract

We investigate the task of controlling ensembles of initial and terminal state vectors of parameter-dependent linear systems by applying parameter-independent open loop controls. Necessary, as well as sufficient, conditions for ensemble controllability are established, using tools from complex approximation theory. For real analytic families of linear systems it is shown that ensemble controllability holds only for systems with at most two independent parameters. We apply the results to networks of linear systems and address the question of open-loop robust synchronization.