Iterative learning control design with high‐order internal model for discrete‐time nonlinear systems

In this paper, a high‐order internal model (HOIM)‐based iterative learning control (ILC) scheme is proposed for discrete‐time nonlinear systems to tackle the tracking problem under iteration‐varying desired trajectories. By incorporating the HOIM that is utilized to describe the variation of desired trajectories in the iteration domain into the ILC design, it is shown that the system output can converge to the desired trajectory along the iteration axis within arbitrarily small error. Furthermore, the learning property in the presence of state disturbances and output noise is discussed under HOIM‐based ILC with an integrator in the iteration axis. Two simulation examples are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control method. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Iterative Learning Control for Nonlinear Systems: A Bounded‐Error Algorithm

This paper presents a nonlinear iterative learning control (NILC) for nonlinear time‐varying systems. An algorithm of a new strategy for the NILC implementation is proposed. This algorithm ensures that trajectory‐tracking errors of the proposed NILC, when implemented, are bounded by a given error norm bound. A special feature of the algorithm is that the trial‐time interval is finite but not fixed as it is for the other iterative learning algorithms. A sufficient condition for convergence and robustness of the bounded‐error learning procedure is derived. With respect to the bounded‐error and standard learning processes applied to a virtual robot, simulation results are presented in order to verify maximal tracking errors, convergence and applicability of the proposed learning control.     

Sampled‐data iterative learning control with well‐defined relative degree

This paper addresses the problem of iterative learning control with well‐defined relative degree. The solution is a family of sampled‐data learning algorithms using lower‐order differentiations of the tracking error with the order less than the relative degree. A unified convergence condition for the family of learning algorithms is derived and is proved to be independent of the highest order of the differentiations. In the presence of initial condition errors, the system output is ensured to converge to the desired trajectory with a specified error bound at each sampling instant. The bound will reduce to zero whenever the bound on initial condition errors tends to zero. Numerical examples are provided to illustrate the tracking performance of the proposed learning algorithms. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Data‐driven high‐order terminal iterative learning control with a faster convergence speed

In this paper, a novel high‐order optimal terminal iterative learning control (high‐order OTILC) is proposed via a data‐driven approach for nonlinear discrete‐time systems with unknown orders in the input and output. The objective is to track the desired values at the endpoint of the operation cycle. The terminal tracking errors over more than one previous iterations are used to enhance the high‐order OTILC's performance with faster convergence. From rigor of the analysis, the monotonic convergence of the terminal tracking error is proved along the iteration direction. More importantly, the condition for a high‐order OTILC to outperform the low‐order ones is first established by this work. The learning gain is not fixed but iteratively updated by using the input and output (I/O) data, which enhances the flexibility of the proposed controller for modifications and expansions. The proposed method is data‐driven in which no explicit models are used except for the input and output data. The applications to a highly nonlinear continuous stirred tank reactor and a highly nonlinear fed‐batch fermentater demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed high‐order OTILC design.     

An E‐HOIM Based Data‐Driven Adaptive TILC of Nonlinear Discrete‐Time Systems for Non‐Repetitive Terminal Point Tracking

This work proposes a new adaptive terminal iterative learning control approach based on the extended concept of high‐order internal model, or E‐HOIM‐ATILC, for a nonlinear non‐affine discrete‐time system. The objective is to make the system state or output at the endpoint of each operation track a desired target value. The target value varies from one iteration to another. Before proceeding to the data‐driven design of the proposed approach, an iterative dynamical linearization is performed for the unknown nonlinear systems by using the gradient of the nonlinear system with regard to the control input as the iteration‐and‐time‐varying parameter vector of the equivalent linear I/O data model. By virtue of the basic idea of the internal model, the inverse of the parameter vector is approximated by a high‐order internal model. The proposed E‐HOIM‐ATILC does not use measurements of any intermediate points except for the control input and terminal output at the endpoint. Moreover, it is data‐driven and needs merely the terminal I/O measurements. By incorporating additional control knowledge from the known portion of the high order internal model into the learning control law, the control performance of the proposed E‐HOIM‐ATILC is improved. The convergence is shown by rigorous mathematical proof. Simulations through both a batch reactor and a coupled tank system demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

A P‐type Iterative Learning Controller for Uncertain Robotic Systems with Exponentially Decaying Error Bounds

This paper presents a P‐type iterative learning control (ILC) scheme for uncertain robotic systems that perform the same tasks repetitively. The proposed ILC scheme comprises a linear feedback controller consisting of position error and exponentially weighted velocity error with respect to the number of iterations, and a feedforward learning controller updated by the exponentially weighted velocity error from previous trial. As the learning iteration proceeds, the position and velocity errors converge uniformly to zero within error bounds that decay exponentially through the sequence of iterations with arbitrarily selected convergence rate. Consequently, the proposed ILC scheme enables analysis and tuning of the exponential convergence rate in the iteration domain in contrast to other existing P‐type ILC schemes. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Iterative Learning Control for discrete nonlinear systems with randomly iteration varying lengths

This note proposes ILC for discrete-time affine nonlinear systems with randomly iteration varying lengths. No prior information on the probability distribution of random iteration length is required prior for controller design. The conventional P-type update law is used with a modified tracking error because of randomly iteration varying lengths. A novel technical lemma is proposed for the strict convergence analysis in pointwise sense. An illustrative example verifies the theoretical results.     

High‐order internal model‐based iterative learning control design for nonlinear distributed parameter systems

This article deals with the problem of iterative learning control algorithm for a class of nonlinear parabolic distributed parameter systems (DPSs) with iteration‐varying desired trajectories. Here, the variation of the desired trajectories in the iteration domain is described by a high‐order internal model. According to the characteristics of the systems, the high‐order internal model‐based P‐type learning algorithm is constructed for such nonlinear DPSs, and furthermore, the corresponding convergence theorem of the presented algorithm is established. It is shown that the output trajectory can converge to the desired trajectory in the sense of (L²,λ) ‐norm along the iteration axis within arbitrarily small error. Finally, a simulation example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Adaptive learning control for general nonlinear systems with nonuniform trial lengths,initial state deviation,and unknown control direction

This paper studies the iteration varying trail lengths problem for high‐order continuous‐time nonlinear systems, where the initial state may deviate from the desired value and the sign of input gain is unknown. First, to deal with the general nonlinear systems, a fuzzy approximation technique is applied for each dimension of the nonlinear function and the backstepping technique is then used for controller design and performance analysis. Moreover, to deal with the randomly varying trial length problem, we introduce a novel composite energy function for the asymptotic convergence analysis. Furthermore, the initial state deviation issue is resolved by introducing an initial state learning protocol such that the initial state tracking error converges to zero asymptotically. Last but not least, the unknown control direction is regulated by applying a Nussbaum function and the analysis in the presence of nonuniform trial lengths is strictly established. Based on these treatments, we prove that the tracking error converges to zero as iteration number increases and all signals are bounded. The effectiveness of the proposed framework is verified by numerical simulations.     

Higher Relative Degree Nonlinear Systems With ilc Using Lower‐order Differentiations

This paper addresses the problem of iterative learning control (ILC) for a class of nonlinear continuous‐time systems with higher relative degree. The proposed ILC solution is a family of updating laws using differentiations of tracking error with the order less than the system relative degree. A unified convergence condition for this family of ILC updating laws is provided and proved to be independent of the highest order of differentiation. The application to path tracking of a robotic manipulator is presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

A Kiefer‐Wolfowitz Algorithm Based Iterative Learning Control for Hammerstein‐Wiener Systems

The iterative learning control (ILC) is considered for the Hammerstein‐Wiener (HW) system, which is a cascading system consisting of a static nonlinearity followed by a linear stochastic system and then a static nonlinearity. Except the structure, the system is unknown, but the system output is observed with additive noise. Both the linear and nonlinear parts of the system may be time‐varying. The optimal control sequence under the tracking performance is first characterized, which, is however, unavailable since the system is unknown. By using the observations on system output the ILC is generated by a Kiefer‐Wolfowitz (KW) algorithm with randomized differences, which aims at minimizing the tracking error. It is proved that ILC converges to the optimal one with probability one and the resulting tracking error tends to its minimal value. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd and Chinese Automatic Control Society     

Observer‐based Fault Estimators Using Iterative Learning Scheme for Linear Time‐delay Systems with Intermittent Faults

This paper deals with the fault estimation problem for a class of linear time‐delay systems with intermittent fault and measurement noise. Different from existing observer‐based fault estimation schemes, in the proposed design, an iterative learning observer is constructed by using the integrated errors composed of state predictive error and tracking error in the previous iteration. First of all, Lyapunov function including the information of time delay is proposed to guarantee the convergence of system output. Subsequently, a novel fault estimation law based on iterative learning scheme is presented to estimate the size and shape of various fault signals. Upon system output convergence analysis, we proposed an optimal function to select appropriate learning gain matrixes such that tracking error converges to zero, simultaneously to ensure the robustness of the proposed iterative learning observer which is influenced by measurement noise. Note that, an improved sufficient condition for the existence of such an estimator is established in terms of the linear matrix inequality (LMI) by the Schur complements and Young relation. In addition, the results are both suit for the systems with time‐varying delay and the systems with constant delay. Finally, three numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods and two comparability examples are provided to prove the superiority of the algorithm.     

Robust monotone gradient‐based discrete‐time iterative learning control

This paper considers the use of matrix models and the robustness of a gradient‐based iterative learning control (ILC) algorithm using both fixed learning gains and nonlinear data‐dependent gains derived from parameter optimization. The philosophy of the paper is to ensure monotonic convergence with respect to the mean‐square value of the error time series. The paper provides a complete and rigorous analysis for the systematic use of the well‐known matrix models in ILC. Matrix models provide necessary and sufficient conditions for robust monotonic convergence. They also permit the construction of accurate sufficient frequency domain conditions for robust monotonic convergence on finite time intervals for both causal and non‐causal controller dynamics. The results are compared with recently published results for robust inverse‐model‐based ILC algorithms and it is seen that the algorithm has the potential to improve the robustness to high‐frequency modelling errors, provided that resonances within the plant bandwidth have been suppressed by feedback or series compensation. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A guaranteed monotonically convergent iterative learning control

This paper presents a new iterative learning control (ILC) scheme for linear discrete time systems. In this scheme, the input of the controlled system is modified by applying a semi‐sliding window algorithm, with a maximum length of n + 1, on the tracking errors obtained from the previous iteration (n is the order of the controlled system). The convergence of the presented ILC is analyzed. It is shown that, if its learning gains are chosen proportional to the denominator coefficients of the system transfer function, then its monotonic convergence condition is independent of the time duration of the iterations and depends only on the numerator coefficients of the system transfer function. The application of the presented ILC to control second‐order systems is described in detail. Numerical examples are added to illustrate the results. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd and Chinese Automatic Control Society     

Adaptive Iterative Learning Control Based High Speed Train Operation Tracking Under Iteration‐Varying Parameter and Measurement Noise

The iterative learning control (ILC)‐based automatic train operation is proposed to address a high speed train (HST) tracking problem with consideration of the iteration‐varying operation condition. The iteration‐varying operation condition considered in this paper is the air resistance coefficient of an HST, which may be completely different at two consecutive operation processes due to different weather conditions. In addition, to alleviate the effect of measurement noise, the proposed method is modified further. The effectiveness of these two proposed methods are verified by theoretical analysis and numerical simulation.     

Nonrepetitive trajectory tracking for nonlinear autonomous agents with asymmetric output constraints using parametric iterative learning control

In this paper, we present a novel parametric iterative learning control (ILC) algorithm to deal with trajectory tracking problems for a class of nonlinear autonomous agents that are subject to actuator faults. Unlike most of the ILC literature, the desired trajectories in this work can be iteration dependent, and the initial position of the agent in each iteration can be random. Both parametric and nonparametric system unknowns and uncertainties, in particular the control input gain functions that are not fully known, are considered. A new type of universal barrier functions is proposed to guarantee the satisfaction of asymmetric constraint requirements, feasibility of the controller, and prescribed tracking performance. We show that under the proposed algorithm, the distance and angle tracking errors can uniformly converge to an arbitrarily small positive number and zero, respectively, over the iteration domain, beyond a small user‐prescribed initial time interval in each iteration. A numerical simulation is presented in the end to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed algorithm.     

Iterative Learning Control for Linear Discrete‐Time Systems with Unknown High‐Order Internal Models: A Time‐Frequency Analysis Approach

This work focuses on the iterative learning control (ILC) for linear discrete‐time systems with unknown initial state and disturbances. First, multiple high‐order internal models (HOIMs) are introduced for the reference, initial state, and disturbances. Both the initial state and disturbance consist of two components, one strictly satisfies HOIM and the other is random bounded. Then, an ILC scheme is constructed according to an augmented HOIM that is the aggregation of all HOIMs. For all known HOIMs, an ILC design criterion is introduced to achieve satisfactory tracking performance based on the 2‐D theory. Next, the case with unknown HOIMs is discussed, where a time‐frequency‐analysis (TFA)‐based ILC algorithm is proposed. In this situation, it is shown that the tracking error inherits the unknown augmented HOIM that is an aggregation of all unknown HOIMs. Then, a TFA‐based method, e.g., the short‐time Fourier transformation (STFT), is employed to identify the unknown augmented HOIM, where the STFT could ignore the effect of the random bounded initial state and disturbances. A new ILC law is designed for the identified unknown augmented HOIM, which has the ability to reject the unknown the initial state and disturbances that strictly satisfy HOIMs. Finally, a gantry robot system with iteration‐invariant or slowly‐varying frequencies is given to illustrate the efficiency of the proposed TFA‐based ILC algorithm.     

Computationally‐Light Non‐Lifted Data‐Driven Norm‐Optimal Iterative Learning Control

Computational complexity and model dependence are two significant limitations on lifted norm optimal iterative learning control (NOILC). To overcome these two issues and retain monotonic convergence in iteration, this paper proposes a computationally‐efficient non‐lifted NOILC strategy for nonlinear discrete‐time systems via a data‐driven approach. First, an iteration‐dependent linear representation of the controlled nonlinear process is introduced by using a dynamical linearization method in the iteration direction. The non‐lifted NOILC is then proposed by utilizing the input and output measurements only, instead of relying on an explicit model of the plant. The computational complexity is reduced by avoiding matrix operation in the learning law. This greatly facilitates its practical application potential. The proposed control law executes in real‐time and utilizes more control information at previous time instants within the same iteration, which can help improve the control performance. The effectiveness of the non‐lifted data‐driven NOILC is demonstrated by rigorous analysis along with a simulation on a batch chemical reaction process.     

Enhancing Iterative Learning Control With Fractional Power Update Law

The P-type update law has been the mainstream technique used in iterative learning control (ILC) systems, which resembles linear feedback control with asymptotical convergence. In recent years, finite-time control strategies such as terminal sliding mode control have been shown to be effective in ramping up convergence speed by introducing fractional power with feedback. In this paper, we show that such mechanism can equally ramp up the learning speed in ILC systems. We first propose a fractional power update rule for ILC of single-input-single-output linear systems. A nonlinear error dynamics is constructed along the iteration axis to illustrate the evolutionary converging process. Using the nonlinear mapping approach, fast convergence towards the limit cycles of tracking errors inherently existing in ILC systems is proven. The limit cycles are shown to be tunable to determine the steady states. Numerical simulations are provided to verify the theoretical results.      

Sufficient conditions to stabilize time‐varying nonlinear sampled‐data systems via approximation

This paper investigates the problem of stabilizing a time‐varying nonlinear sampled‐data system based on its approximate models. Given a time‐varying nonlinear sampled‐data system, we make use of the approximate models of the system at each sampling instant to build a time‐varying approximate model with which an appropriate controller is designed. This paper provides some sufficient conditions under which a controller stabilizing the approximate models can also stabilize the exact sampled‐data system under any sufficiently small sampling period. With this method, we do not need to compute the complicated exact discrete‐time model of the concerned system and significantly simplify the controller design. The major contribution of this method lies in extending the available results regarding the time‐invariant sampled‐data systems to the time‐varying case. Moreover, this method enables us to analyze the influence of the precision of approximate models on the system performance. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.