  This paper is concerned with the design of optimal control for
finite-dimensional control-affine nonlinear dynamical systems. We introduce an
optimal control problem that specifically optimizes nonlinear observability in
addition to ensuring stability of the closed loop system. A recursive algorithm
is then proposed to obtain an optimal state feedback controller to maximize the
resulting non-quadratic cost functional. The main contribution of the paper is
presenting a control synthesis procedure that provides closed loop asymptotic
stability, on one hand, and empirical observability of the system, as a
transient performance criteria, on the other.
