We establish a discrete-time criteria guaranteeing the existence of an exponential dichotomy in the continuous-time behavior of an abstract evolution family. We prove that an evolution family ${\cal U}=\{U(t,s)\}_{t \geq s\geq 0}$ acting on a Banach space $X$ is uniformly exponentially dichotomic (with respect to its continuous-time behavior) if and only if the corresponding difference equation with the inhomogeneous term from a vector-valued Orlicz sequence space $l^\Phi(\mathbb{N}, X)$ admits a solution in the same $l^\Phi(\mathbb{N},X)$. The technique of proof effectively eliminates the continuity hypothesis on the evolution family (\emph{i.e.,} we do not assume that $U(\,\cdot\,,s)x$ or $U(t,\,\cdot\,)x$ is continuous on $[s,\infty)$, and respectively $[0,t]$). Thus, some known results given by Coffman and Schaffer, Perron, and Ta Li are extended.

A theory of minimal realizations of rational matrix functions $W(\lambda)$ in the ``pencil'' form $W(\lambda)=C(\lambda A_1-A_2)^{-1}B$ is developed. In particular, properties of the pencil $\lambda A_1-A_2$ are discussed when $W(\lambda)$ is hermitian on the real line, and when $W(\lambda)$ is hermitian on the unit circle.

We study the stability of linear filters associated with certain types of linear difference equations with variable coefficients. We show that stability is determined by the locations of the poles of a rational transfer function relative to the spectrum of an associated weighted shift operator. The known theory for filters associated with constant-coefficient difference equations is a special case.