A note on minimality of positive realizations

A well-known result from linear system theory states that the minimal inner size of a factorization of the Hankel matrix H of a system gives the minimal order of a realization. In this brief it is shown that when dealing with positive linear systems, the existence of a factorization of the Hankel matrix into two nonnegative matrices Is only a necessary condition for the existence of a positive realization of order equal to the inner size of the factorization. Necessary and sufficient conditions for the minimality of a positive realization in terms of positive factorization of the Hankel matrix are then derived.