Decoupling problems around a trajectory: from linearity to nonlinearity

Given a nonlinear control system for which an admissible statetrajectory is specified, we solve approximately the input outputdecoupling problem around this nominal trajectory. An approximatesolution for this problem is obtained by dealing with the linearizedsystem along this trajectory. An exact solution to the inputoutput decoupling problem for the linearization is shown tobe an approximate solution to the input output decoupling problemaround the nominal trajectory for the original nonlinear system.In a similar way, we provide an approximate solution to thedisturbance decoupling problem around a specified trajectoryof the nonlinear system. The nonlinear model of a two link robotmanipulator is used to illustrate the results on input outputdecoupling.