State observer for linear systems with piece-wise constant output delays

This paper analyses the stability properties of a state observer estimating the system states from delayed measurements for a linear time invariant plant. The delay is assumed to be a known piecewise constant function of time. The observer construction is a two-step procedure and has a ‘chain-like’ structure, consisting of two cascaded dynamical systems. The manifestation of the time-varying delayed output on the observer stability is analysed at both the ‘zeroth’ and the ‘first’ links in the chain of observers.