Characterization of input-to-output stability for infinite-dimensional systems

Abstract: We prove a superposition theorem for input-to-output stability (IOS) of a broad class of nonlinear infinite-dimensional systems with outputs including both continuous-time and discrete-time systems. It contains, as a special case, the superposition theorem for input-to-state stability (ISS) of infinite-dimensional systems and the IOS superposition theorem for systems of ordinary differential equations known from the literature. To achieve this result, we introduce and examine several novel stability and attractivity concepts for infinite-dimensional systems with outputs: We prove criteria for the uniform limit property for systems with outputs, several of which are new already for systems with full-state output, we provide superposition theorems for systems which satisfy both the output Lagrange stability (OL) and IOS, give a sufficient condition for OL and characterize ISS in terms of IOS and input/output-to-state stability. Finally, by means of counterexamples, we illustrate the challenges appearing on the way of extension of the superposition theorems from the literature to infinite-dimensional systems with outputs.