Robust semi‐global coordinated tracking of linear multi‐agent systems with input saturation

This paper investigates the problem of coordinated tracking of a linear multi‐agent system subject to actuator magnitude saturation and dead zone characteristic with input additive uncertainties and disturbances. Distributed consensus and swarm tracking protocols are developed from a low‐and‐high gain feedback approach. Under the assumption that each agent is asymptotically null controllable with bounded controls, it is shown that robust semi‐global consensus tracking and swarm tracking of the multi‐agent system can always be reached provided that the networks are connected. Numerical examples are provided to illustrate the theoretical results. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Semi‐global and global containment control of multi‐agent systems with second‐order dynamics and input saturation

This paper considers both semi‐global and global containment control for a second‐order multi‐agent system that is composed by a network of identical harmonic oscillators or double integrators with multiple leaders and input saturation. A distributed low gain feedback algorithm is proposed to solve the semi‐global containment control problem for the network whose topology is directed and initial condition is taken from any a priori given bounded set. In particular, by using a parametric Lyapunov equation approach, M‐matrix properties and algebraic graph theory, an upper bound of the low gain parameter is estimated such that the low gain feedback matrix can be analytically determined without involving numerical computation. Furthermore, under the assumption that the induced subgraph formed by the followers is strongly connected and detail balanced, two linear feedback protocols are designed for coupled harmonic oscillators and coupled double integrators, respectively, to asymptotically achieve the global containment control of the network with any initial condition. Finally, numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

耦合调和振子网络系统的联合连通同步

论文分析了耦合调和振子网络系统在联合连通网络拓扑结构下的引导-跟随同步问题.假定每个网络拓扑结构图不连通,但它们在有限时间内能够联合连通,利用代数图论,李雅普诺夫稳定性理论和La Salle不变原理,证明了该系统的同步稳定性.最后,数值模拟进一步验证了所得理论结果的正确性和有效性.     

Sampled-data synchronisation of coupled harmonic oscillators with communication and input delays subject to controller failure

This paper considers the sampled-data synchronisation problems of coupled harmonic oscillators with communication and input delays subject to controller failure. A synchronisation protocol is proposed for such oscillator systems over directed network topology, and then some general algebraic criteria on exponential convergence for the proposed protocol are established. The main features of the present investigation include: (1) both the communication and input delays are simultaneously addressed, and the directed network topology is firstly considered and (2) the effects of time delays on synchronisation performance are theoretically and numerically investigated. It is shown that in the absence of communication delays, coupled harmonic oscillators can achieve synchronisation oscillatory motion. Whereas if communication delays are nonzero at infinite multiple sampled-data instants, its synchronisation (or consensus) state is zero. This conclusion can be used as an effective control strategy to stabilise coupled harmonic oscillators in practical applications. Furthermore, it is interesting to find that increasing either communication or input delays will enhance the synchronisation performance of coupled harmonic oscillators. Subsequently, numerical examples illustrate and visualise theoretical results.     

Synchronization of coupled harmonic oscillators with local interaction

This paper studies synchronization of coupled second-order linear harmonic oscillators with local interaction. We analyze convergence conditions over, respectively, directed fixed and switching network topologies by using tools from algebraic graph theory, matrix theory, and nonsmooth analysis. It is shown that the coupled harmonic oscillators can be synchronized under mild network connectivity conditions. Examples are given to validate the convergence conditions. The theoretical result is also applied to synchronized motion coordination of multi-agent systems as a proof of concept.     

内外不确定因素同时估计与补偿的鲁棒分布式跟踪控制

本文研究了多运动体系统中领航者(leader)和跟随者(follower)同时受扰条件下的跟踪控制问题.针对3–DOF直升机模型的角度轨迹协同跟踪任务,设计并验证了基于跟随者不确定因素和外部领航者干扰同时补偿的分布式鲁棒算法.分别通过不确定与干扰估计器和扩张状态观测器实现对内外扰动的估计与补偿,恢复了标称系统的跟踪性能...     

Robust global stabilization of linear systems with input saturation via gain scheduling

The problem of robust global stabilization of linear systems subject to input saturation and input‐additive uncertainties is revisited in this paper. By taking advantages of the recently developed parametric Lyapunov equation‐based low gain feedback design method and an existing dynamic gain scheduling technique, a new gain scheduling controller is proposed to solve the problem. In comparison with the existing ?₂‐type gain scheduling controller, which requires the online solution of a state‐dependent nonlinear optimization problem and a state‐dependent ?₂ algebraic Riccati equation (ARE), all the parameters in the proposed controller are determined a priori. In the absence of the input‐additive uncertainties, the proposed controller also partially recovers Teel's ?_∞‐type scheduling approach by solving the problem of global stabilization of linear systems with actuator saturation. The ?_∞‐type scheduling approach achieves robustness not only with non‐input‐additive uncertainties but also requires the closed‐form solution to an ?_∞ ARE. Thus, the proposed scheduling method also addresses the implementation issues of the ?_∞‐type scheduling approach in the absence of non‐input‐additive uncertainties. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Semi‐global bipartite output consensus of heterogeneous multi‐agent systems subject to input saturation by finite‐time observer

In this paper, the semi‐global bipartite output consensus problem of heterogeneous linear multi‐agent systems is studied. Compared with related works, both cooperative interactions and antagonistic interactions between agents are considered, and the input saturation on each follower is taken into account. First, two distributed finite‐time observers are designed to recover the leader's state. Particularly, the setting time can be independent of any initial states. Due to the antagonistic interactions, estimation values are the same as the leader's state in modulus but may not in sign. Then, the low‐gain feedback technique is used to develop the distributed control law for each follower. Moreover, we summarize a framework for solving the semi‐global bipartite output consensus problem of heterogeneous multi‐agent systems subject to input saturation. Finally, examples are given to illustrate the results.     

Robust consensus tracking of second-order nonlinear systems using relative position information by K-filter and disturbance observer based control

This work considers the problem of distributed consensus tracking control of second-order uncertain nonlinear systems under a directed communication graph which contains a spanning tree, where the leader node is the root. It is assumed that the followers receive only the relative positions from the neighbours. For the purpose of consensus tracking controller design, in each follower, a group of K-filters is introduced so that the necessity of velocity estimating is avoided. Then we can express each follower's tracking error dynamics as a second-order system with mismatched uncertainties. And hence we can design a robust consensus tracking controller for each follower by using the combination of the backstepping design and the disturbance observer based control using only relative position information. Theoretical analysis is performed to show that the DOBs' estimation errors can be made to decay to be sufficiently small very quickly before the system states escape from the feasible region. Then we show that all the followers' states track those of the leader with arbitrarily small ultimate error bounds. And simulation examples are provided to demonstrate the performance of the proposed method.     

Practical stabilization of exponentially unstable linear systems subject to actuator saturation nonlinearity and disturbance

This paper investigates the problem of practical stabilization for linear systems subject to actuator saturation and input additive disturbance. Attention is restricted to systems with two anti‐stable modes. For such a system, a family of linear feedback laws is constructed that achieves semi‐global practical stabilization on the asymptotically null controllable region. This is in the sense that, for any set χ₀ in the interior of the asymptotically null controllable region, any (arbitrarily small) set χ_∞ containing the origin in its interior, and any (arbitrarily large) bound on the disturbance, there is a feedback law from the family such that any trajectory of the closed‐loop system enters and remains in the set χ_∞ in a finite time as long as it starts from the set χ₀. In proving the main results, the continuity and monotonicity of the domain of attraction for a class of second‐order systems are revealed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

航天器姿态输出反馈抗干扰跟踪控制

针对采用四元数描述的航天器姿态运动模型研究输出反馈抗干扰跟踪控制问题.首先在姿态运动模型的基础上,结合四元数的性质设计扩张状态观测器(extended state observer,ESO)来估计角速度和干扰力矩,从理论上保证了ESO中的四元数状态满足范数约束,并证明了观测误差的收敛性;进一步利用互连和阻尼分配无源控制(interconnection and damping assignment passivity-based control,IDA--PBC)理论设计控制律,通过姿态和角速度误差状态变换以及引入误差积分项,使得期望的姿态和角速度误差,以及积分项误差运动方程中均出现阻尼项,提高了系统的抗干扰性能,最后利用Laypunov函数证明了闭环系统一致最终有界稳定.仿真结果验证了所设计ESO和IDA--PBC控制律的有效性.     

State‐feedback disturbance attenuation for polytopic LPV systems with input saturation

This paper proposes a state‐feedback control law for linear parameter‐varying (LPV) systems with input saturation and disturbances. The proposed control law employs two control parts: a main control part for reducing the restricted ??₂ gain from the mismatched disturbance to the controlled output and an extra control part for eliminating the matched disturbance. Owing to this feature, the proposed control law provides a better disturbance attenuation performance than the conventional control law that deals with a unified disturbance regardless of the presence of matched and mismatched disturbances. Further, considering different forms of the feedback gain matrix K(θ(t)) and the Lyapunov function V(x(t)), three types of controllers are proposed. For each type, set invariance and the restricted ??₂ gain performance conditions are first formulated in terms of parameterized linear matrix inequalities (PLMIs) and then converted into linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) by using a parameter relaxation technique. Results from the simulation of numerical examples confirm the effectiveness of the proposed controllers. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Full-state prescribed performance pose tracking of space proximity operations with input saturation

This paper investigates the relative position tracking and attitude synchronization control for spacecraft close-range proximity missions with input saturation and model uncertainties. A robust saturated relative motion controller is proposed for this purpose. Prescribed performance functions are designed to guarantee the transient and steady-state response of the system and the full-state constraints. Then, a nonlinear disturbance observer is developed to estimate the lumped disturbance that comprises the effects of parametric uncertainties and kinematic couplings. At the same time, a linear compensator system is incorporated into the controller design to deal with the control input saturation. Finally, it can be proved via the Lyapunov theory that the closed-loop system is uniformly ultimately bounded stable. Simulation results on the spacecraft close-range rendezvous and docking mission validate the effectiveness of the proposed control approach.     

Robust consensus tracking of linear multiagent systems with input saturation and input‐additive uncertainties

The problem of robust global consensus tracking of linear multiagent systems with input saturation and input‐additive uncertainties is investigated in this paper. By using the parametric Lyapunov equation approach and an existing dynamic gain scheduling technique, a new distributed nonlinear‐gain scheduling consensus‐trackining algorithm is developed to solve this problem. Under the assumption that each agent is asymptotically null controllable with bounded control, it is shown that the robust global consensus tracking can be achieved under the undirected graph provided that its generated graph contains a directed spanning tree. Compared with the existing algebraic Riccati equation approach, which requires the online solution of a parameterized algebraic Riccati equation, all the parameters in the proposed nonlinear algorithm are offline determined a priori. Finally, numerical examples are provided to validate the theoretical results. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Adaptive dynamic surface control using disturbance observer for nonlinear systems with input saturation and output constraints

An adaptive dynamic surface control (DSC) approach using fuzzy approximation and nonlinear disturbance observer (NDO) for uncertain nonlinear systems in the presence of input saturation, output constraint and unknown external disturbances is proposed in this paper. The issue of input saturation is addressed by introducing a lower bound assumption on the approximation function of saturation. The output constraint is handled by introducing an appropriate barried Lyapunov function. The nonlinear disturbance observer (NDO) is employed to estimate the unknown unmatched disturbances. It is manifested that the ultimately bounded convergence of all the variables in the closed-loop system is guaranteed and the tracking error can be made farely small by tuning the design parameters. Finally, two simulation examples illustrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed approach.     

Finite‐time consensus tracking for harmonic oscillators using both state feedback control and output feedback control

This paper investigates the distributed finite‐time consensus‐tracking problem for coupled harmonic oscillators. The objective is to guarantee a team of followers modeled by harmonic oscillators to track a dynamic virtual leader in finite time. Only a subset of followers can access the information of the virtual leader, and the interactions between followers are assumed to be local. We consider two cases: (i) The followers can obtain the relative states between their neighbors and their own; and (ii) Only relative outputs between neighboring agents are available. In the former case, a distributed consensus protocol is adopted to achieve the finite‐time consensus tracking. In the latter case, we propose a novel observer‐based dynamic protocol to guarantee the consensus tracking in finite time. Simulation examples are finally presented to verify the theoretical analysis. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Robust control of robot manipulators based on uncertainty and disturbance estimation

In this work, uncertainty and disturbance estimation (UDE) based robust trajectory tracking controller for rigid link manipulators was proposed. The UDE was employed to estimate the composite uncertainty that comprises the effects of system nonlinearities, external disturbances, and parametric uncertainties. A feedback linearization based controller was designed for trajectory tracking, and the same was augmented by the UDE‐estimated uncertainties to achieve robustness. The resulting controller however required measurement of joint velocities apart from the joint positions. To address the issue, an observer that employed the UDE‐estimated uncertainties for robustness was proposed, giving rise to the UDE‐based controller–observer structure. Closed‐loop stability of the overall system was established. The notable feature of the proposed design was that it neither required accurate plant model nor any information about the uncertainty. Also, the design needed only joint position measurements for its implementation. To demonstrate the effectiveness, simulation results of the proposed approach as applied to the trajectory tracking control of two‐link robotic manipulator and comparison of its performance with some of the well‐known existing controllers were presented. Lastly, hardware implementation of the proposed design for trajectory control of Quanser's single‐link flexible joint module was carried out, and it was shown that the proposed strategy offered a viable approach for designing implementable robust controllers for robots. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Global tracking sliding mode control for a class of nonlinear systems via variable gain observer

A novel output‐feedback sliding mode control strategy is proposed for a class of single‐input single‐output (SISO) uncertain time‐varying nonlinear systems for which a norm state estimator can be implemented. Such a class encompasses minimum‐phase systems with nonlinearities affinely norm bounded by unmeasured states with growth rate depending nonlinearly on the measured system output and on the internal states related with the zero‐dynamics. The sliding surface is generated by using the state of a high gain observer (HGO) whereas a peaking free control amplitude is obtained via a norm observer. In contrast to the existing semi‐global sliding mode control solutions available in the literature for the class of plants considered here, the proposed scheme is free of peaking and achieves global tracking with respect to a small residual set. The key idea is to design a time‐varying HGO gain implementable from measurable signals. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Output feedback semiglobal practical consensus of linear systems with relative state‐dependent uncertainties

This paper proposes an output feedback consensus control law for linear multiagent systems with relative state‐dependent uncertainties. To achieve output feedback control and uncertainty attenuation, the theories of extended high‐gain observer and structural decomposition are employed. Under the proposed control scheme, semiglobal practical consensus is achieved in the sense that the synchronization errors are ultimately bounded. Besides, the synchronization errors can be kept arbitrarily small by a proper choice of tuning parameters. Finally, a simulation example is provided to verify the theoretical results.     

Stability analysis of a control system with nonlinear input uncertainty based on disturbance observer

In disturbance observer (DO)‐based control, control input attenuates a disturbance using observer output. Thus, the input may not achieve the attenuation if the input term includes uncertainty. Therefore, in order to correctly suppress the disturbance, it is essential to consider the uncertainty existing in the input term, and thus this article focuses on a nonlinear uncertainty in the input term. This article analyzes the stability and robustness of a DO‐based nonlinear control system with both the disturbance and the input uncertainty. We address the case that the disturbance and the uncertainty depend on time and states of a controlled system. The disturbance and the uncertainty are gathered in an integrated disturbance, and the integrated disturbance depends on many variables: the states, the control input, and the time. Therefore, a norm estimations for the disturbance and a time variation of the disturbance is difficult without knowledge of the state trajectory. Hence, a slope‐restriction for the disturbance is used for the stability analysis. Based on the mathematical analysis, we show input‐to‐state stability conditions due to extend the application class of the DO‐based controller to a control system with the disturbance and the nonlinear input uncertainty. The analytical results are verified by numerical simulations.