Approximations of nonlinear systems having outputs

For a nonlinear system with output derivative x = f(x) and y = h(x), two types of linearizations about a point x(0) in state space are considered. One is the usual Taylor series approximation, and the other is defined by linearizing the appropriate Lie derivatives of the output with respect to f about x(0). The latter is called the obvservation model and appears to be quite natural for observation. It is noted that there is a coordinate system in which these two kinds of linearizations agree. In this coordinate system, a technique to construct an observer is introduced.