  An observer-based boundary controller for infinite-dimensional
port-Hamiltonian systems defined on 1D spatial domains is proposed. The design
is based on an early-lumping approach in which a finite-dimensional
approximation of the infinite-dimensional system derived by spatial
discretization is used to design the observer and the controller. As long as
the finite-dimensional approximation approaches the infinite-dimensional model,
the performances also do. The main contribution is a constructive method which
guarantees that the interconnection between the controller and the
infinite-dimensional system is asymptotically stable. A Timoshenko beam model
has been used to illustrate the approach.
