Control and stabilization of nonholonomic dynamic systems

A class of inherently nonlinear control problems has been identified, the nonlinear features arising directly from physical assumptions about constraints on the motion of a mechanical system. Models are presented for mechanical systems with nonholonomic constraints represented both by differential-algebraic equations and by reduced state equations. Control issues for this class of systems are studied and a number of fundamental results are derived. Although a single equilibrium solution cannot be asymptotically stabilized using continuous state feedback, a general procedure for constructing a piecewise analytic state feedback which achieves the desired result is suggested     

Semi-global sampled-data output feedback disturbance rejection control for a class of uncertain nonlinear systems

This paper investigates the semi-global output feedback disturbance rejection control problem for a class of uncertain nonlinear systems with additive disturbances using linear sampled-data control. Aiming to reject the adverse effects caused by the uncertainties and unknown nonlinear perturbations which may not satisfy the strict feedback or feedforward structure, a new generalised discrete-time extended state observer is proposed to estimate the disturbance at sampling points. An output feedback disturbance rejection control law is then constructed in a sampled-data form which facilitates digital implementations. By selecting adequate control gains and a sufficiently small sampling period to restrain the state growth under a zero-order-hold input, the semi-global asymptotic stability of the hybrid closed-loop system and the disturbance rejection ability are proved. Both numerical example and an application of a single-link robot arm system demonstrate the feasibility and efficacy of the proposed method.     

Discrete-time neural network output feedback control of nonlinear discrete-time systems in non-strict form

An adaptive neural network (NN)-based output feedback controller is proposed to deliver a desired tracking performance for a class of discrete-time nonlinear systems, which are represented in non-strict feedback form. The NN backstepping approach is utilized to design the adaptive output feedback controller consisting of: (1) an NN observer to estimate the system states and (2) two NNs to generate the virtual and actual control inputs, respectively. The non-causal problem encountered during the control design is overcome by using a dynamic NN which is constructed through a feedforward NN with a novel weight tuning law. The separation principle is relaxed, persistency of excitation condition (PE) is not needed and certainty equivalence principle is not used. The uniformly ultimate boundedness (UUB) of the closed-loop tracking error, the state estimation errors and the NN weight estimates is demonstrated. Though the proposed work is applicable for second order nonlinear discrete-time systems expressed in non-strict feedback form, the proposed controller design can be easily extendable to an nth order nonlinear discrete-time system.     

Control of constrained robots including effects of joint flexibility and actuator dynamics

We consider mathematical representations of constrained robot systems in which the effects of joint flexibility and actuator dynamics are significant. The objective is to design a feedback control law so that the position output variables and the force output variables of the robot follows the desired position and the desired force trajectories respectively despite the presence of joint flexibility and actuator dynamics. A systematic procedure is developed for designing a feedback control law which ensures that the position variables track the desired position trajectories exponentially, and the force variables track the desired force trajectories exponentially. The development of the control law is based on the model of a constrained robot system which includes the effects of actuator dynamics and joint flexibility. Thus using the force/position control law developed in this paper one can achieve better tracking performance in cases where such effects are significant.     

An output feedback precompensator for nonlinear DAE systems with control-dependent state-space

This note considers singular systems of nonlinear differential and algebraic equations (DAEs) whose constrained state space depends on the control inputs. A state-space realization of such systems cannot be derived independently of the controller design. An output feedback precompensator is derived, which results in a modified DAE system whose state-space is invariant under any feedback control law and can be used for output feedback controller synthesis. Its application is illustrated by a nonlinear electrical circuit example.     

Composite nonlinear control with state and measurement feedback for general multivariable systems with input saturation

In this paper, we present a design procedure of composite nonlinear feedback control for general multivariable systems with actuator saturation. We consider both the state feedback case and the measurement feedback case without imposing any restrictive assumption on the given systems. The composite nonlinear feedback control consists of a linear feedback law and a nonlinear feedback law without any switching element. The linear feedback part is designed to yield a closed-loop system with faster rise time, while at the same time not exceeding the actuator limits for the desired command input levels. The nonlinear feedback law is used to reduce overshoot and undershoot caused by the linear part. As such, a highly desired tracking performance with faster settling time and smaller overshoot can be obtained. The result is illustrated by a numerical example, which shows that the proposed design method yields a very satisfactory performance.     

Decentralized filtering adaptive constrained tracking control for interconnected nonlinear systems

This paper presents a novel decentralized filtering adaptive constrained tracking control framework for uncertain interconnected nonlinear systems. Each subsystem has its own decentralized controller based on the established decentralized state predictor. For each subsystem, a piecewise constant adaptive law will generate total uncertainty estimates by solving the error dynamics between the host system and decentralized state predictor with the neglection of unknowns, whereas a decentralized filtering control law is designed to compensate both local and mismatched uncertainties from other subsystems, as well as achieve the local objective tracking of the host system. The achievement of global objective depends on the achievement of local objective for each subsystem. In the control scheme, the nonlinear uncertainties are compensated for within the bandwidth of low‐pass filters, while the trade‐off between tracking and constraints violation avoidance is formulated as a numerical constrained optimization problem which is solved periodically. Priority is given to constraints violation avoidance at the cost of deteriorated tracking performance. The uniform performance bounds are derived for the system states and control inputs as compared to the corresponding signals of a bounded closed‐loop reference system, which assumes partial cancelation of uncertainties within the bandwidth of the control signal. Compared with model predictive control (MPC) and unconstrained controller, the proposed control architecture is capable of solving the tracking control problems for interconnected nonlinear systems subject to constraints and uncertainties.     

Congestion control in compartmental network systems

In many practical applications of control engineering, the dynamical system under consideration is described by a compartmental network system. This means that the system is governed by a law of mass conservation and that the state variables are constrained to remain non-negative along the system trajectories. In such systems, network congestion arises when the inflow demand exceeds the throughput capacity of the network. When congestion occurs, some links of the network are saturated with the undesirable consequence that there is an overflow of some compartments. Our contribution in this paper is to show that congestion can be automatically prevented by using a nonlinear output feedback controller having an appropriate compartmental structure.     

Investigations on the Hybrid Tracking Control of an Underactuated Autonomous Underwater Robot

The problem of trajectory tracking control of an underactuated autonomous underwater robot (AUR) in a three-dimensional (3-D) space is investigated in this paper. The control of an underactuated robot is different from fully actuated robots in many aspects. In particular, these robot systems do not satisfy Brockett's necessary condition for feedback stabilization and no continuous time-invariant state feedback control law exists that makes a specified equilibrium of the closed-loop system asymptotically stable. The uncertainty of hydrodynamic parameters, along with the coupled, nonlinear dynamics of the underwater robot, also makes the navigation and tracking control a difficult task. The proposed hybrid control law is developed by combining sliding mode control (SMC) and classical proportional–integral–derivative (PID) control methods to reduce the tracking errors arising out of disturbances, as well as variations in vehicle parameters like buoyancy. Here, a trajectory planner computes the body-fixed linear and angular velocities, as well as vehicle orientations corresponding to a given 3-D inertial trajectory, which yields a feasible 6-d.o.f. trajectory. This trajectory is used to compute the control signals for the three available controllable inputs by the hybrid controller. A supervisory controller is used to switch between the SMC and PID control as per a predefined switching law. The switching function parameters are optimized using Taguchi design techniques. The effectiveness and performance of the proposed controller is investigated by comparing numerically with classical SMC and traditional linear control systems in the presence of disturbances. Numerical simulations using the full set of nonlinear equations of motion show that the controller does quite well in dealing with the plant nonlinearity and parameter uncertainties for trajectory tracking. The proposed controller response shows less tracking error without the usually present control chattering. Some practical features of this control law are also discussed.     

Transient performance for discrete‐time singular systems with actuators saturation via composite nonlinear feedback control

This paper is concerned with the transient performance improvement in tracking control problems for linear multivariable discrete‐time singular systems subject to actuators saturation. A composite nonlinear feedback control strategy is considered, and the resulting controller consists of a linear feedback law and a nonlinear feedback law without any switching element. The nonlinear term leads to a varying damping ratio of the closed‐loop system and yields a small overshoot as the output approaches the target reference, whereas the linear component is designed to achieve a quick response of the closed‐loop system. Two composite nonlinear feedback control laws by both state feedback and measurement output feedback are addressed. An illustrative example is included to show the validity of the obtained results. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.