Structural properties of LPV to LFR transformation: minimality, input-output behavior and identifiability

In this paper, we introduce and study important properties of the transformation of Affine Linear Parameter-Varying (ALPV) state-space representations into Linear Fractional Representations (LFR). More precisely, we show that $(i)$ state minimal ALPV representations yield minimal LFRs, and vice versa, $(ii)$ the input-output behavior of the ALPV represention determines uniquely the input-output behavior of the resulting LFR, $(iii)$ structurally identifiable ALPVs yield structurally identifiable LFRs, and vice versa. We then characterize LFR models which correspond to equivalent ALPV models based on their input-output maps. As illustrated all along the paper, these results have important consequences for identification and control of systems described by LFRs.