Robust decentralized hybrid adaptive output feedback fuzzy control for a class of large-scale MIMO nonlinear systems and its application to AHS

This paper presents a novel observer-based decentralized hybrid adaptive fuzzy control scheme for a class of large-scale continuous-time multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) uncertain nonlinear systems whose state variables are unmeasurable. The scheme integrates fuzzy logic systems, state observers, and strictly positive real conditions to deal with three issues in the control of a large-scale MIMO uncertain nonlinear system: algorithm design, controller singularity, and transient response. Then, the design of the hybrid adaptive fuzzy controller is extended to address a general large-scale uncertain nonlinear system. It is shown that the resultant closed-loop large-scale system keeps asymptotically stable and the tracking error converges to zero. The better characteristics of our scheme are demonstrated by simulations.     

Observation and sliding mode observer for nonlinear fractional-order system with unknown input

The main purpose of this paper is twofold. First, the observability and the left invertibility properties and the observable canonical form for nonlinear fractional-order systems are introduced. By using a transformation, we show that these properties can be deduced from an equivalent nonlinear integer-order system. Second, a step by step sliding mode observer for fault detection and estimation in nonlinear fractional-order systems is proposed. Starting with a chained fractional-order integrators form, a step by step first-order sliding mode observer is designed. The finite time convergence of the observer is established by using Lyapunov stability theory. A numerical example is given to illustrate the performance of the proposed approach.     

Tracking control of nonlinear lumped mechanical continuous-time systems: A model-based iterative learning approach

This paper presents a nonlinear model-based iterative learning control procedure to achieve accurate tracking control for nonlinear lumped mechanical continuous-time systems. The model structure used in this iterative learning control procedure is new and combines a linear state space model and a nonlinear feature space transformation. An intuitive two-step iterative algorithm to identify the model parameters is presented. It alternates between the estimation of the linear and the nonlinear model part. It is assumed that besides the input and output signals also the full state vector of the system is available for identification. A measurement and signal processing procedure to estimate these signals for lumped mechanical systems is presented. The iterative learning control procedure relies on the calculation of the input that generates a given model output, so-called offline model inversion. A new offline nonlinear model inversion method for continuous-time, nonlinear time-invariant, state space models based on Newton's method is presented and applied to the new model structure. This model inversion method is not restricted to minimum phase models. It requires only calculation of the first order derivatives of the state space model and is applicable to multivariable models. For periodic reference signals the method yields a compact implementation in the frequency domain. Moreover it is shown that a bandwidth can be specified up to which learning is allowed when using this inversion method in the iterative learning control procedure. Experimental results for a nonlinear single-input-single-output system corresponding to a quarter car on a hydraulic test rig are presented. It is shown that the new nonlinear approach outperforms the linear iterative learning control approach which is currently used in the automotive industry on durability test rigs.     

Adaptive control for a class of MIMO nonlinear time delay systems against time varying actuator failures

This paper investigates an adaptive controller for a class of Multi Input Multi Output (MIMO) nonlinear systems with unknown parameters, bounded time delays and in the presence of unknown time varying actuator failures. The type of considered actuator failure is one in which some inputs may be stuck at some time varying values where the values, times and patterns of the failures are unknown. The proposed approach is constructed based on a backstepping design method. The boundedness of all the closed-loop signals is guaranteed and the tracking errors are proved to converge to a small neighborhood of the origin. The proposed approach is employed for a double inverted pendulums benchmark and a chemical reactor system. The simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Augmented nonlinear differentiator design and application to nonlinear uncertain systems

In this paper, an augmented nonlinear differentiator (AND) based on sigmoid function is developed to calculate the noise-less time derivative under noisy measurement condition. The essential philosophy of proposed AND in achieving high attenuation of noise effect is established by expanding the signal dynamics with extra state variable representing the integrated noisy measurement, then with the integral of measurement as input, the augmented differentiator is formulated to improve the estimation quality. The prominent advantages of the present differentiation technique are: (i) better noise suppression ability can be achieved without appreciable delay; (ii) the improved methodology can be readily extended to construct augmented high-order differentiator to obtain multiple derivatives. In addition, the convergence property and robustness performance against noises are investigated via singular perturbation theory and describing function method, respectively. Also, comparison with several classical differentiators is given to illustrate the superiority of AND in noise suppression. Finally, the robust control problems of nonlinear uncertain systems, including a numerical example and a mass spring system, are addressed to demonstrate the effectiveness of AND in precisely estimating the disturbance and providing the unavailable differential estimate to implement output feedback based controller.     

Experimental sensorless control for a coupled two-tank system using high gain adaptive observer and nonlinear generalized predictive strategy

In this paper an adaptive control for a coupled two-tank system is proposed. This control strategy uses a generalized predictive controller, whose main method is to minimize a multistage cost function defined over a prediction horizon. Furthermore, to implement this controller in the framework of the sensorless control from the only measurement of the liquid level in the bottom tank, an adaptive interconnected high gain observer is developed for estimating the liquid level in the upper tank and the two constant parameters of the system. Two design features are worth to be emphasized. Firstly, the control calibration is achieved through the tuning of only two scalar design parameters. Secondly, the exponential convergence to zero of the state observation and parameter estimation errors is established under a well defined condition. Finally, the theoretical results are corroborated through simulation and experimental results which highlight the efficiency and applicability of the proposed observer–controller scheme.     

A new method for the accurate measurement of higher-order frequency response functions of nonlinear structural systems

Higher-order frequency response functions (FRFs) are important to the analysis and identification of structural nonlinearities. Though much research effort has been devoted recently to their potential applications, practical issues concerning the difficulty and accuracy of higher-order FRF measurement have not been rigorously assessed to date. This paper presents a new method for the accurate measurement of higher-order FRFs. The method is developed based on sinusoidal input, which is ideal for exciting a nonlinear structure into desired regimes with flexible control, and the correlation technique, which is a novel signal processing method capable of extracting accurate frequency components present in general nonlinear responses. The correlation technique adopted is a major improvement over Fourier transform based existing methods since it eliminates leakage and aliasing errors altogether and proves to be extremely robust in the presence of measurement noise. Extensive numerical case studies have been carried out to critically assess the capability and accuracy of the proposed method and the results achieved are indeed very promising. Interesting nonlinear behavior such as frequency shift and jump have been observed in first-, second- and third-order FRFs, as well as solitary islands which have been identified over which higher-order FRFs virtually do not change as input force amplitude varies. Higher-order FRFs over such solitary islands are essentially their theoretical counterparts of Volterra transfer functions which can be measured with very low input force and can be profitably employed for the identification of physical parameters of structural nonlinearities. Subsequently, a nonlinear parameter identification method has also been developed using measured higher-order FRFs and results are presented and discussed.     

Indirect adaptive fuzzy fault-tolerant tracking control for MIMO nonlinear systems with actuator and sensor failures

In this paper, an active fuzzy fault tolerant tracking control (AFFTTC) scheme is developed for a class of multi-input multi-output (MIMO) unknown nonlinear systems in the presence of unknown actuator faults, sensor failures and external disturbance. The developed control scheme deals with four kinds of faults for both sensors and actuators. The bias, drift, and loss of accuracy additive faults are considered along with the loss of effectiveness multiplicative fault. A fuzzy adaptive controller based on back-stepping design is developed to deal with actuator failures and unknown system dynamics. However, an additional robust control term is added to deal with sensor faults, approximation errors, and external disturbances. Lyapunov theory is used to prove the stability of the closed loop system. Numerical simulations on a quadrotor are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.     

Adaptive fuzzy prescribed performance control for MIMO nonlinear systems with unknown control direction and unknown dead-zone inputs

In this study, an adaptive fuzzy prescribed performance control approach is developed for a class of uncertain multi-input and multi-output (MIMO) nonlinear systems with unknown control direction and unknown dead-zone inputs. The properties of symmetric matrix are exploited to design adaptive fuzzy prescribed performance controller, and a Nussbaum-type function is incorporated in the controller to estimate the unknown control direction. This method has two prominent advantages: it does not require the priori knowledge of control direction and only three parameters need to be updated on-line for this MIMO systems. It is proved that all the signals in the resulting closed-loop system are bounded and that the tracking errors converge to a small residual set with the prescribed performance bounds. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is validated by simulation results.     

Improved control using extended non-minimal state space MPC and modified LQR for a kind of nonlinear systems

Inspired by the state space model based predictive control, this paper presents the combination design of extended non-minimal state space predictive control (ENMSSPC) and modified linear quadratic regulator (LQR) for a kind of nonlinear process with output feedback coupling, which shows improved control performance for both model/plant match and model/plant mismatch cases. In many previous control methods for this kind of nonlinear systems, the nonlinear part is treated in different ways such as ignored, represented as a rough linear one or assumed to be time-variant when corresponding predictive control methods are designed. However, the above methods will generally lead to information loss, resulting in the influenced control performance. This paper will show that the ENMSSPC-LQ control structure will further improve closed-loop control performance concerning tracking ability and disturbance rejection compared with previous predictive control methods.     

Fixed-time output feedback trajectory tracking control of marine surface vessels subject to unknown external disturbances and uncertainties

This paper proposes a novel fixed-time output feedback control scheme for trajectory tracking of marine surface vessels (MSVs) subject to unknown external disturbances and uncertainties. A fixed-time extended state observer (FESO) is proposed to estimate unknown lumped disturbances and unmeasured velocities, and the observation errors will converge to zero in fixed time. Based on the estimated values, a novel fixed-time trajectory tracking controller is designed for an MSV to track a time-varying reference trajectory by the extension of an adding a power integrator (API), and the tracking errors can converge to zero in fixed time as well. Additionally, the convergence time of the controller and the FESO is independent of initial state values. Finally, simulation results and comparisons illustrate the superiority of the proposed control scheme.     

A new fractional-order sliding mode controller via a nonlinear disturbance observer for a class of dynamical systems with mismatched disturbances

This paper investigates the stabilization and disturbance rejection for a class of fractional-order nonlinear dynamical systems with mismatched disturbances. To fulfill this purpose a new fractional-order sliding mode control (FOSMC) based on a nonlinear disturbance observer is proposed. In order to design the suitable fractional-order sliding mode controller, a proper switching surface is introduced. Afterward, by using the sliding mode theory and Lyapunov stability theory, a robust fractional-order control law via a nonlinear disturbance observer is proposed to assure the existence of the sliding motion in finite time. The proposed fractional-order sliding mode controller exposes better control performance, ensures fast and robust stability of the closed-loop system, eliminates the disturbances and diminishes the chattering problem. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed fractional-order controller is depicted via numerical simulation results of practical example and is compared with some other controllers.     

A novel anti-windup framework for cascade control systems: An application to underactuated mechanical systems

This paper describes the anti-windup compensator (AWC) design methodologies for stable and unstable cascade plants with cascade controllers facing actuator saturation. Two novel full-order decoupling AWC architectures, based on equivalence of the overall closed-loop system, are developed to deal with windup effects. The decoupled architectures have been developed, to formulate the AWC synthesis problem, by assuring equivalence of the coupled and the decoupled architectures, instead of using an analogy, for cascade control systems. A comparison of both AWC architectures from application point of view is provided to consolidate their utilities. Mainly, one of the architecture is better in terms of computational complexity for implementation, while the other is suitable for unstable cascade systems. On the basis of the architectures for cascade systems facing stability and performance degradation problems in the event of actuator saturation, the global AWC design methodologies utilizing linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) are developed. These LMIs are synthesized by application of the Lyapunov theory, the global sector condition and the _?2${?}_2$ gain reduction of the uncertain decoupled nonlinear component of the decoupled architecture. Further, an LMI-based local AWC design methodology is derived by utilizing a local sector condition by means of a quadratic Lyapunov function to resolve the windup problem for unstable cascade plants under saturation. To demonstrate effectiveness of the proposed AWC schemes, an underactuated mechanical system, the ball-and-beam system, is considered, and details of the simulation and practical implementation results are described.     

A novel approach to periodic event-triggered control: Design and application to the inverted pendulum

In this paper, periodic event-triggered controllers are proposed for the rotary inverted pendulum. The control strategy is divided in two steps: swing-up and stabilization. In both cases, the system is sampled periodically but the control actions are only computed at certain instances of time (based on events), which are a subset of the sampling times. For the stabilization control, the asymptotic stability is guaranteed applying the Lyapunov–Razumikhin theorem for systems with delays. This result is applicable to general linear systems and not only to the inverted pendulum. For the swing-up control, a trigger function is provided from the derivative of the Lyapunov function for the swing-up control law. Experimental results show a significant improvement with respect to periodic control in the number of control actions.     

Finite time stability and controller design for nonlinear impulsive sampled-data systems with applications

This paper investigates the finite time stability (FTS) for nonlinear impulsive sampled-data systems. By constructing an appropriated Lyapunov function and employing average impulsive interval (AII) method, some FTS criteria for the nonlinear impulsive sampled-data systems are derived in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs), which can be easily verified via the LMI toolbox. The hybrid controller including sampled-data controller and impulsive controller is designed via the established LMIs. Moreover, the impulse effect considered in this paper including stabilizing impulse and destabilizing impulse. Our developed results are less conservative than the recent work in the literature. Finally, two numerical examples are provided to show the applications of the proposed criteria.     

Model-based nonlinear control of hydraulic servo systems: Challenges,developments and perspectives

Hydraulic servo system plays a significant role in industries, and usually acts as a core point in control and power transmission. Although linear theory-based control methods have been well established, advanced controller design methods for hydraulic servo system to achieve high performance is still an unending pursuit along with the development of modern industry. Essential nonlinearity is a unique feature and makes model-based nonlinear control more attractive, due to benefit from prior knowledge of the servo valve controlled hydraulic system. In this paper, a discussion for challenges in model-based nonlinear control, latest developments and brief perspectives of hydraulic servo systems are presented: Modelling uncertainty in hydraulic system is a major challenge, which includes parametric uncertainty and time-varying disturbance; some specific requirements also arise ad hoc difficulties such as nonlinear friction during low velocity tracking, severe disturbance, periodic disturbance, etc.; to handle various challenges, nonlinear solutions including parameter adaptation, nonlinear robust control, state and disturbance observation, backstepping design and so on, are proposed and integrated, theoretical analysis and lots of applications reveal their powerful capability to solve pertinent problems; and at the end, some perspectives and associated research topics (measurement noise, constraints, inner valve dynamics, input nonlinearity, etc.) in nonlinear hydraulic servo control are briefly explored and discussed.     

Stability analysis and dynamic regulation of multi-dimensional Taylor network controller for SISO nonlinear systems with time-varying delay

Though many studies are focused on the stabilization of nonlinear systems with time-varying delay, they fail to involve the dynamic regulation without on-line optimization commonly. For this sake, feedback linearization, Lyapunov-Razumikhin theorem and polynomial approximation theorem are employed here to verify that the multi-dimensional Taylor network (MTN) controller can stabilize the single input single output (SISO) nonlinear time-varying delay systems through dynamic regulation of the system output with no need for on-line optimization. Here, the design of the controller is transformed into a convex optimization problem, which is tackled by means of the appropriate optimization method. Like its PD-like controller peers, the MTN controller functions well in eliminating the dependence on the system model. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated and confirmed via two examples.     

Distributed ESO based cooperative tracking control for high-order nonlinear multiagent systems with lumped disturbance and application in multi flight simulators systems

Based on extended state observer, a novel and practical design method is developed to solve the distributed cooperative tracking problem of higher-order nonlinear multiagent systems with lumped disturbance in a fixed communication topology directed graph. The proposed method is designed to guarantee all the follower nodes ultimately and uniformly converge to the leader node with bounded residual errors. The leader node, modeled as a higher-order non-autonomous nonlinear system, acts as a command generator giving commands only to a small portion of the networked follower nodes. Extended state observer is used to estimate the local states and lumped disturbance of each follower node. Moreover, each distributed controller can work independently only requiring the relative states and/or the estimated relative states information between itself and its neighbors. Finally an engineering application of multi flight simulators systems is demonstrated to test and verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.     

A contribution to the surface analysis and characterisation of HVOF coatings for petrochemical application

The appropriate selection of bulk materials and coatings of valve components is an important factor for the economic success of oil and gas production activities in the petrochemical field. Materials and coatings are important because particle erosion and surface wear are associated to corrosion by hydrogen sulphide during oil and gas flow. The wear of high pressure valves of gas system will lead to pollution, safety problems and cost increases. The most common solution of these problems is the deposition of hard materials as tungsten carbide or chromium carbide by thermal spray. These coatings are deposited by high velocity oxygen fuel (HVOF) thermal spray process to obtain a very high hardness with excellent cohesion and adhesion. Tungsten carbide cobalt–chromium based coating, chromium carbide nickel–chromium coating as well as Inconel 625 have been adopted in the specifications of petrochemical companies and their behaviour and wear, erosion and corrosion properties are reported in the literature.

This paper addresses the experimental study, surface analysis and functional characterisation of HVOF coatings innovative for the specific application such as NiAl and composite material WC/intermetallic compounds containing Ni, Cr, Co and Mo. These coatings have been systematically submitted to corrosion and functional tests based on the determination of the behaviour of the coatings in H₂S and CO₂ atmosphere and to wear and erosion according to standard ASTM G75-95 (slurry test); material loss and surface damage have been determined; the coatings have been completely characterised from the point of view of the structure (morphology, porosity, hardness, wear) and of the surface properties by means of a prototype 3-dimensional (3-D) stylus micro-geometrical surface analysis system; their corrosion and functional behaviour have been compared with the behaviour of the above mentioned coatings.

The slurry test allows a clear discrimination among the performances of analysed coatings. Namely, WC/Mo compound, because of its carbide content, shows fairly good behaviour in an erosive environment and higher erosion resistance than Inconel 625 and NiAl; all the tested coatings show similar behaviour in a corrosive environment.