Contribution to the decoupled control of large-scale mechanical systems

This paper presents the concept of decomposition as applied to the control synthesis of multivariable mechanical systems, in which the coupling among the subsystems can be very strong. The system class considered contains subsystems with powered degrees of freedom, as well as subsystems without their own actuators. Global control is introduced to diminish the influence of coupling on the stability of the whole system. The procedure is illustrated by simulation of two examples, one in robotics, the other in biomechanics.     

Practical stabilization of robotic systems by decentralized control

The practical stability of large-scale robotic systems with variable parameters is considered. The control should ensure the system state to belong to a finite region around the nominal trajectory for various values of parameters. The robotic system is considered as a set of decoupled subsystems each of which corresponds to one degree of freedom. For each decoupled subsystem a local controller is synthesized ensuring the practical stability of free subsystem. Then the practical stability of the coupled global system is analysed for various values of mechanical parameters. This permits the synthesis of decentralized control which provides practical stabilization of robotic systems in given finite regions and for the given set of allowable parameter values. Global control is also introduced. Decentralized control for a manipulation robot with variable payload is synthesized.     

Partially decentralized control of large-scale variable-refrigerant-flow systems in buildings

We consider the problem of designing a scalable control architecture for large-scale variable-refrigerant-flow (VRF) systems. Using a gray-box modeling approach, and by exploiting the one-way coupling between the fluid dynamics and thermal dynamics, we derive individual linearized models for each class of dynamics. This sufficiently reduces the complexity of the problem so that a scalable analysis is possible. Based on the natural dynamics and coupling of the VRF system, which become apparent through the structure of the derived models, a partially decentralized control architecture is proposed. Communication is limited to one-way sensor information flow from the individual decentralized controllers to a global controller, leading to a simple yet highly effective control architecture which easily scales for systems with a large number of evaporators. The ability of the proposed control architecture and design to provide both high performance and reduced energy consumption is demonstrated through a simulated case study.     

Optimality of decentralized control for large-scale systems

A decentralized control scheme is given for the stabilization of large-scale linear systems composed of a number of controllable subsystems. A class of interconnection structures among subsystems is defined for which the overall system can always be stabilized by local state feedback which is optimal for a quadratic performance index. The resulting closed-loop system has robust stability properties against a wide range of variations in open-loop dynamics. Optimality of the decentralized control law is preserved for a modified performance index under perturbations in interconnections such that the strength of coupling does not increase. The class of decentrally stabilizable large-scale systems presented in this paper is the largest such class hitherto described by the structure of interconnections.     

Adaptive fuzzy decentralized control for nonlinear large-scale systems based on high-gain observer

An adaptive fuzzy decentralized backstepping output-feedback control approach is proposed for a class of nonlinear large-scale systems with completely unknown functions,the interconnections mismatched in control inputs,and without the measurements of the states.Fuzzy logic systems are employed to approximate the unknown nonlinear functions,and an adaptive high-gain observer is developed to estimate the unmeasured states.Using the designed high-gain observer,and combining the fuzzy adaptive control theory with backstepping approach,an adaptive fuzzy decentralized backstepping output-feedback control scheme is developed.It is proved that the proposed control approach can guarantee that all the signals of the closed-loop system are semi-globally uniformly ultimately bounded(SUUB),and that the observer errors and the tracking errors converge to a small neighborhood of the origin by appropriate choice of the design parameters.Finally,a simulation example is provided to show the eectiveness of the proposed approach.     

Contribution to the indirect decentralized adaptive control of manipulation robots

In this paper, efficient approaches to the synthesis of indirect decentralized adaptive control for manipulation robots are presented. The first part of control synthesis consists of the estimation of unknown dynamic robot parameters using the methods of recursive identification and fast dynamic as well as identification models in a symbolic form. The second part of synthesis includes the self-tuning control strategy which is a basis for adaptive control synthesis according to the estimates of the unknown dynamic parameters. Using the theory of decentralized systems, a new robust algorithm for adaptive control with the ability of adaptation in the feedforward or feedback loop are proposed. A complete stability and convergence analysis is presented. A special part of the paper represents an analysis of practical implementation of the proposed control algorithms on modern microprocessor-based robot controllers. Based on this analysis, an efficient application of indirect adaptive algorithms in real time with high-quality system performance is shown. Adaptive algorithms are verified through simulation of trajectory tracking for an industrial robot with unknown dynamic parameters of payload.     

Optimal decentralized control of dynamic systems

In this paper, several aspects of decentralized control theory applied to dynamic systems are studied. First of all, some classical definitions about matricial functions and new results on gradient calculations are presented. In the following we generalize to matricial problems the method of gradient projection of Rosen. Finally, some aspects of stability, initialization and initial condition independence are studied in detail, and two numerical examples are considered in order to emphasize the advantages of the given procedure: the decentralized Kalman filter and the optimal power-frequency control.     

A control synthesis approach for time discrete event systems

In this paper, we introduce a control synthesis method for discrete event systems whose behavior is dependent on explicit values of time. Our goal is to control the occurrence dates of the controllable events so that the functioning of the system respects given specifications. The system to be controlled is modeled by a time Petri net. In a previous work we proposed a systematic method to build the timed automaton which models the exact behavior of a time Petri net. Furthermore, the forbidden behaviors of the system are modeled by forbidden timed automaton locations. This paper focuses on the control synthesis method, which consists in computing new firing conditions for the timed automaton transitions so that the forbidden locations are no longer reachable.     

RBFN-based decentralized adaptive control of a class of large-scale non-affine nonlinear systems

For a class of large-scale decentralized nonlinear systems with strong interconnections, a radial basis function neural network (RBFN) adaptive control scheme is proposed. The system is composed of a class of non-affine nonlinear subsystems, which are implicit function and smooth with respect to control input. Based on implicit function theorem, inverse function theorem and the design idea of pseudo-control, a novel control algorithm is proposed. Two neural networks are used to approximate unknown nonlinearities in the subsystem and unknown interconnection function, respectively. The stability is proved rigidly. The result of simulation validates the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.     

Non-affine nonlinear adaptive control of decentralized large-scale systems using neural networks

This paper introduces a new decentralized adaptive neural network controller for a class of large-scale nonlinear systems with unknown non-affine subsystems and unknown interconnections represented by nonlinear functions. A radial basis function neural network is used to represent the controller’s structure. The stability of the closed loop system is guaranteed through Lyapunov stability analysis. The effectiveness of the proposed decentralized adaptive controller is illustrated by considering two nonlinear systems: a two-inverted pendulum and a turbo generator. The simulation results verify the merits of the proposed controller.     

Decentralized robust disturbance attenuation for a class of large-scale nonlinear systems

We solve the problem of decentralized H_∞ almost disturbance decoupling for a class of large-scale nonlinear uncertain systems in the absence of matching conditions. The method combines ideas from decentralized adaptive control and centralized nonlinear H_∞ control. We relax earlier assumptions on the uncertain time-varying interconnections which are demanded to be only bounded by general nonlinear functions in this work.     

Robust decentralized stabilization of Markovian jump large-scale systems: A neighboring mode dependent control approach

This paper is concerned with the decentralized stabilization problem for a class of uncertain large-scale systems with Markovian jump parameters. The controllers use local subsystem states and neighboring mode information to generate local control inputs. A sufficient condition involving rank constrained linear matrix inequalities is proposed for the design of such controllers. A numerical example is given to illustrate the developed theory.     

一类非线性系统的次优控制研究

考虑一类关系度不确定且零动态稳定的非线性系统的控制器设计问题．利用预测控制概念,通过选用较为全面的二次型性能指标,对输出进行高阶泰勒级数展开,推导出一种非切换的解析次优控制律,进而得出了在该控制律下闭环系统局部稳定的充分条件．仿真例子验证了该控制算法具有较好的动态性能,与已有的近似线性化方法相比,显示了该控制策略的优越性．     

Suboptimal control of nonlinear systems

The Modified LJ search method used by Nair[1] to find suboptimal controllers for linear systems is extended to the case of nonlinear systems. To illustrate the method, three numerical examples are discussed.     

Adaptive fuzzy decentralized control for a class of large-scale nonlinear systems.

In this paper, direct and indirect adaptive output-feedback fuzzy decentralized controllers for a class of uncertain large-scale nonlinear systems are developed. The proposed controllers do not need the availability of the state variables. By designing the state observer, the adaptive fuzzy systems, which are used to model the unknown functions, can be constructed using the state estimations, and a new hybrid adaptive fuzzy control methodology is proposed by combining the adaptive fuzzy systems with H infinity control and the sliding mode control techniques. Based on Lyapunov stability theorem, the stability of the closed-loop systems can be verified. Moreover, the proposed overall control schemes guarantee that all the signals involved are bounded and achieve the H infinity-tracking performance. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods, simulation results are illustrated in this paper.     

Suboptimal control for nonlinear systems: a successive approximation approach

This paper presents a successive approximation approach (SAA) designing optimal controllers for a class of nonlinear systems with a quadratic performance index. By using the SAA, the nonlinear optimal control problem is transformed into a sequence of nonhomogeneous linear two-point boundary value (TPBV) problems. The optimal control law obtained consists of an accurate linear feedback term and a nonlinear compensation term which is the limit of an adjoint vector sequence. By using the finite-step iteration of the nonlinear compensation sequence, we can obtain a suboptimal control law. Simulation examples are employed to test the validity of the SAA.     

Hybrid dynamical systems: robust control synthesis problems

The paper presents a new approach to robust control synthesis problems for hybrid dynamical systems. The hybrid system under consideration is a composite of a continuous plant and a discrete event controller. State and output feedback problems are considered. The main results are given in terms of the existence of suitable solutions to a dynamic programming equation and a Riccati differential equation of the H^∞ filtering type. These results show a connection between the theories of hybrid dynamical systems and robust and nonlinear control.     

On the decentralized control of interconnected systems

Recently, it was shown [1] how to reduce the order of the decentralized control problem for interconnected systems by using local dynamic feedback. The analysis was carried out with polynomial matrices. In this letter, these results are reproduced in state space using the Generalized Hessenberg Representation (GHR). This analysis shows how the interaction between the interconnection structure and the local system structure generates the result above. In addition, this analysis leads directly to numerical algorithms.     

Robust stabilization of nonlinearly perturbed large-scale systems by decentralized observer-controller compensators

This paper is concerned with the problem of robust stabilization for nonlinearly perturbed large-scale systems via decentralized observer-controller compensators. The large-scale system is composed of several interconnected perturbed subsystems, each containing a nonlinearly perturbed plant and an observer-controller compensator. Here a robust stability criterion for the perturbed large-scale system is introduced, and a simple but useful inequality is derived for synthesizing the decentralized observer-controller compensators. The main features of this paper are as follows: (i) the nominal plant of each subsystem is not constrained to be stable and/or minimum phase; (ii) the perturbations of the plants and/or interconnections are considered; and (iii) a two degree observer-controller compensating scheme is employed to treat the perturbed large-scale systems.