
only autonomous systems. Recent literature has focused on finite-
dimensional approximations of the Koopman operator [6], [13].
Of particular interest is the gEDMD algorithm [14] which seeks
a finite-dimensional approximation of the infinitesimal generator of
the Koopman operator and is based on Extended Dynamic Mode
Decomposition (EDMD) [6]. The gEDMD algorithm [14] uses a
dictionary of functions to lift full-state data from an autonomous
system and seeks to find a linear relation in the evolution of the
lifted system.
The works in [15]–[18] have focused on obtaining accurate
finite-dimensional approximations of this linear operator for
control. While [15]–[17] have extended [6] for control, [18]
transforms the nonlinear system as a linear parameter-varying
system with the control as the variable parameter. In [19], linear
predictors for the control-affine nonlinear system are considered.
However, crucially, the control transformations required for exact
linearization and its connection to feedback linearization are
absent. A Luenberger observer for the system’s nonlinearities is
proposed using the Koopman operator in [20]. Here the control
is considered as a varying parameter, and the overall system is
considered as a linear parameter varying system. Hence, existing
literature that use the Koopman operator for control have crucially
missed the connection to feedback linearization. Bilinearization
using the Koopman operator has also been an area of interest
[21]–[23]. In [21], the nonlinear system is approximated by
interpolated bilinear systems. Then a model predictive control
scheme is applied to the identified interpolated bilinear model.
Probabilistic error bounds on trajectories predicted by bilinearized
models using the Koopman operator are given in [22]. Conditions
for global bilinearizability using the Koopman operator are given
in [23]. However, it is important to note that standard linear control
techniques cannot be implemented on bilinear models. The model-
based feedback linearization approach and the modern data-driven
Koopman operator approach are both linearization techniques,
yet for controlled and autonomous systems, respectively. In
this paper, we focus on showing a connection between these two
methods and developing a data-driven scheme for nonlinear control.
Contributions. The main contributions of this paper are as follows.
We first bridge the gap between the geometric framework of feed-
back linearization and the Koopman operator-theoretic framework.
In particular, we show that, when the system is involutive to a
certain degree, there exists an observable hand a feedback control α
such that the Koopman generator for the closed-loop system under
the feedback αis nilpotent at the observable h. Furthermore,
there exists a finite-dimensional Koopman invariant subspace of the
same dimension as the involutive distribution for the system. This
connection to the Koopman operator allows us to develop a data-
driven method for feedback linearization, by essentially casting the
problem of data-driven feedback linearization as one of learning
the closed-loop Koopman operator for the nonlinear control-affine
system by a linearizing state/control transformation. To this end,
we exploit the fact that involutivity permits a representation of the
Koopman generator in the finite-dimensional Brunovsky canonical
form under the linearizing state/control transformation. This allows
us to fix the Brunovsky canonical form as the target linear rep-
resentation and learn the linearizing transformation using a set of
fixed dictionary functions by a least-squares method in our algo-
rithm Koopman generator-based Feedback Linearization (KGFL).
We also provide a numerical feedback linearization scheme with
only input-output data. With input-output data, we show that the
control transformations can be learned in a least-squares sense
using a simple data-driven formula. The results in [24], which
were developed independently from this work, deal with data-driven
feedback linearization with complete dictionaries for fully feedback
linearizable systems. In our work, we neither make the assumption
of full feedback linearizability nor of complete dictionaries. How-
ever, when the system is feedback linearizable and the dictionaries
used in KGFL are complete, the solution is exact and is equal to the
model-based solution. Finally, we demonstrate the performance of
our algorithm with numerical simulations for multiple examples. We
perform both full state feedback linearization and output feedback
linearization on the Van der Pol oscillator and compare it against
existing nonlinear data-driven control techniques. We consider a
higher dimensional system with the control entering nonlinearly
and show that our algorithm can be used for complex systems. We
also provide insight on the effect of richness of dicitonary and data
size on the accuracy of feedback linearization method.
II. PRELIMINARIES
Let Rdbe the d-dimensional Euclidean space. Let (X, dX)and
(Y, dY)be metric spaces. A map f:X→Yis said to be Lipschitz
(with Lipschitz constant ℓf) if dY(f(x1), f(x2)) ≤ℓfdX(x1, x2)
for any x1, x2∈X. The space of k-times continuously differen-
tiable functions on Xis denoted by Ck(X). Let Vbe a normed
vector space and let T:V→Vbe a bounded linear operator
on V. A subspace W⊆Vis said to be T-invariant if T(W)⊆W.
The operator T:V→Vis locally nilpotent with index rat
v∈Vif Tkv̸= 0 for all k∈ {0,...,r −1}and Trv= 0.
Furthermore, if v, T (v),...,Tr(v)are linearly independent, then
span{v, T (v),...,Tr(v)}is said to be a T-cyclic subspace of T.
For a measure space (X,Σ, µ)(where Σis a sigma-algebra on X
and µis the measure on (X, Σ)), a property Pis said to hold
almost everywhere (a.e.) if the subset over which the property P
fails to hold is of µ-measure zero. The Lie bracket between two
vector fields fand gis denoted by [f, g] = adfg=Lgf−Lfg. The
adjoint of order kis defined recursively as adk
fg=hf , ad(k−1)
fgi
with ad0
fg=g. The Gateaux derivative U(v;η)[25] of operator
T∈C1(V, V )at v∈Valong η∈Vis given by
lim
h→0+∥T(v+hη)−T(v)−U(v;η)h∥V= 0.
W⊆Vis called a stable subspace of Twith respect to
perturbations along ηif U(w;η) = 0 for all w∈W.
A. Lie derivative as Koopman generator
Consider the autonomous system ˙x(t) = f(x(t)) with state space
X⊂Rd, where f:X→Rdis Lipschitz. Let s:X×R≥0→Xbe
the flow of the vector field f, such that for any x∈X,s(x, 0) = x
and d
dt s(x, t) = f(s(x, t)). For a function ϕ∈C1(X), let Lfϕbe
the Lie derivative of ϕwith respect to f, such that for any x∈X,
Lfuniquely satisfies
lim
h→0+|ϕ(s(x, h)) −ϕ(x)−h(Lfϕ)(x)|= 0.
Let K:C1(X)×R≥0→C1(X)be the Koopman operator for the
flow s, such that for any x∈Xwe have:
(Ktϕ)(x) = ϕ(s(x, t)),
where we have adopted the notation Ktϕ=K(ϕ, t). The family of
operators {Kt}t≥0is said to be right-differentiable at t= 0 with
derivative operator Lif the following holds for any ϕ∈C1(X):
lim
h→0+∥Khϕ− K0ϕ−hLϕ∥L2(X)= 0.