Robust output feedback model predictive control of constrained linear systems

This paper provides a solution to the problem of robust output feedback model predictive control of constrained, linear, discrete-time systems in the presence of bounded state and output disturbances. The proposed output feedback controller consists of a simple, stable Luenberger state estimator and a recently developed, robustly stabilizing, tube-based, model predictive controller. The state estimation error is bounded by an invariant set. The tube-based controller ensures that all possible realizations of the state trajectory lie in a simple uncertainty tube the ‘center’ of which is the solution of a nominal (disturbance-free) system and the ‘cross-section’ of which is also invariant. Satisfaction of the state and input constraints for the original system is guaranteed by employing tighter constraint sets for the nominal system. The complexity of the resultant controller is similar to that required for nominal model predictive control.     

Robust model predictive control of constrained linear systems with bounded disturbances

This paper provides a novel solution to the problem of robust model predictive control of constrained, linear, discrete-time systems in the presence of bounded disturbances. The optimal control problem that is solved online includes, uniquely, the initial state of the model employed in the problem as a decision variable. The associated value function is zero in a disturbance invariant set that serves as the ‘origin’ when bounded disturbances are present, and permits a strong stability result, namely robust exponential stability of the disturbance invariant set for the controlled system with bounded disturbances, to be obtained. The resultant online algorithm is a quadratic program of similar complexity to that required in conventional model predictive control.     

Constrained output feedback model predictive control for nonlinear systems

A constrained output feedback model predictive control approach for nonlinear systems is presented in this paper. The state variables are observed using an unscented Kalman filter, which offers some advantages over an extended Kalman filter. A nonlinear dynamic model of the system, considered in this investigation, is developed considering all possible effective elements. The model is then adaptively linearized along the prediction horizon using a state-dependent state space representation. In order to improve the performance of the control system as many linearized models as the number of prediction horizons are obtained at each sample time. The optimum results of the previous sample time are utilized for linearization at the current sample time. Subsequently, a linear quadratic objective function with constraints is formulated using the developed governing equations of the plant. The performance and effectiveness of the proposed control approach is validated both in simulation and through real-time experimentation using a constrained highly nonlinear aerodynamic test rig, a twin rotor MIMO system (TRMS).     

Robust MPC for systems with output feedback and input saturation

In this work, it is proposed an MPC control algorithm with proved robust stability for systems with model uncertainty and output feedback. It is assumed that the operating strategy is such that system inputs may become saturated at transient or steady state. The developed strategy aims at the case in which the controller performs in the output-tracking scheme following an optimal set point that is provided by an upper optimization layer of the plant control structure. In this case, the optimal operating point usually lies at the boundary of the region where the input is defined. Assuming that the system remains stabilizable in the presence of input saturation, the design of the robust controller is performed off-line and an on-line implementation strategy is proposed. At each sampling step, a sub optimal control law is obtained by combining control configurations that correspond to particular subsets of available manipulated inputs. Stability of the closed-loop system is forced by considering in the off-line step of the controller design, a state contracting restriction for the closed-loop system. To produce an offset free controller and to attend the case of unknown steady state, the method is developed for a state-space model in the incremental form. The method is illustrated with simulation examples extracted from the process industry.     

Off-line approach to dynamic output feedback robust model predictive control

This paper presents an off-line approach to the dynamic output feedback robust model predictive control (OFRMPC) for a system with both polytopic uncertainty and bounded disturbance. For the off-line optimization, a sequence of controller parameters and the corresponding regions of attraction are calculated for all combinations of the pre-specified estimated states and estimation error sets (EESs). These controller parameters and the corresponding regions of attraction are stored in a look-up table. On-line, the controller parameters are searched in this look-up table corresponding to real-time EES, and to the region of attraction with the closest containment of real-time estimated state. This method considerably reduces the on-line computational burden. Two numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the approach.     

Discrete-time certainty equivalence output feedback: allowing discontinuous control laws including those from model predictive control

We present certainty equivalence output feedback results for discrete-time nonlinear systems that employ possibly discontinuous control laws in the feedback loop. Coupling assumptions of nominal robustness with uniform observability or detectability assumptions, we assert nominally robust stability for output feedback closed loops. We further show that model predictive control (MPC) can be used to generate a feedback control law that is robustly globally asymptotically stabilizing when used in a certainty equivalence output feedback closed loop. Allowing for discontinuous feedback control laws is important for systems employing MPC, since the method can, and sometimes necessarily does, result in discontinuous control laws.     

Dynamic output feedback robust model predictive control

The synthesis approach for dynamic output feedback robust model predictive control is considered. The notion of quadratic boundedness is utilised to characterise the stability properties of the augmented closed-loop system. A finite horizon performance cost, which corresponds to the worst case of both the polytopic uncertainty and the bounded disturbance/noise, is utilised. It is not required to specify the horizon length. A numerical example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller.     

Robust control of nonlinear feedback passive systems

In this paper we consider a class of nonlinear systems with uncertain parameters which enter the system nonlinearly. We assume that the uncertain nonlinear system is minimum phase and the uncertain parameters are from a bounded compact set. The problem under consideration is the design of a nonlinear static state feedback controller such that the closed-loop system is passive for all admissible uncertainties.     

Robust moving horizon estimation based output feedback economic model predictive control

In this work, we develop an economic model predictive control scheme for a class of nonlinear systems with bounded process and measurement noise. In order to achieve fast convergence of the state estimates to the actual system state as well as the robustness of the observer to measurement and process noise, a deterministic (high-gain) observer is first applied for a small time period with continuous output measurements to drive the estimation error to a small value; after this initial small time period, a robust moving horizon estimation scheme is used on-line to provide more accurate and smoother state estimates. In the design of the robust moving horizon estimation scheme, the deterministic observer is used to calculate reference estimates and confidence regions that contain the actual system state. Within the confidence regions, the moving horizon estimation scheme is allowed to optimize its estimates. The output feedback economic model predictive controller is designed via Lyapunov techniques based on state estimates provided by the deterministic observer and the moving horizon estimation scheme. The stability of the closed-loop system is analyzed rigorously and conditions that ensure the closed-loop stability are derived. Extensive simulations based on a chemical process example illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.     

A framework for design of scheduled output feedback model predictive control

We present a stabilizing scheduled output feedback Model Predictive Control (MPC) algorithm for constrained nonlinear systems with large operating regions. We design a set of local output feedback predictive controllers with their estimated regions of stability covering the desired operating region, and implement them as a single scheduled output feedback MPC which on-line switches between the set of local controllers and achieves nonlinear transitions with guaranteed stability. This algorithm provides a general framework for scheduled output feedback MPC design.     

A note on stability, robustness and performance of output feedback nonlinear model predictive control

In recent years, nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) schemes have been derived that guarantee stability of the closed loop under the assumption of full state information. However, only limited advances have been made with respect to output feedback in the framework of nonlinear predictive control. This paper combines stabilizing instantaneous state feedback NMPC schemes with high-gain observers to achieve output feedback stabilization. For a uniformly observable MIMO system class it is shown that the resulting closed loop is asymptotically stable. Furthermore, the output feedback NMPC scheme recovers the performance of the state feedback in the sense that the region of attraction and the trajectories of the state feedback scheme can be recovered to any degree of accuracy for large enough observer gains, thus leading to semi-regional results. Additionally, it is shown that the output feedback controller is robust with respect to static sector bounded nonlinear input uncertainties.     

An improved approach for constrained robust model predictive control

In this paper, we present a new technique to address constrained robust model predictive control. The main advantage of this new approach with respect to other well-known techniques is the reduced conservativeness. Specifically, the technique described in this paper can be applied to polytopic uncertain systems and is based on the use of several Lyapunov functions each one corresponding to a different vertex of the uncertainty's polytope.     

Adaptive learning control of linear systems by output error feedback

This paper addresses the problem of designing an output error feedback tracking control for single-input, single-output uncertain linear systems when the reference output signal is smooth and periodic with known period T. The considered systems are required to be observable, minimum phase, with known relative degree and known high frequency gain sign. By developing in Fourier series expansion a suitable unknown periodic input reference signal, an output error feedback adaptive learning control is designed which ‘learns’ the input reference signal by identifying its Fourier coefficients: bounded closed-loop signals and global exponential tracking of both the input and the output reference signals are obtained when the Fourier series expansion is finite, while global exponential convergence of the input and output tracking errors into arbitrarily small residual sets is achieved otherwise. The structure of the proposed controller depends only on the relative degree, the reference signal period, the high frequency gain sign and the number of estimated Fourier coefficients.     

Robust nonlinear output feedback control for brake by wire control systems

This work proposes a nonlinear output feedback control law for active braking control systems. The control law guarantees bounded control action and can cope also with input constraints. Moreover, the closed-loop system properties are such that the control algorithm allows to detect—without the need of a friction estimator—if the closed-loop system is operating in the unstable region of the friction curve, thereby allowing to enhance both braking performance and safety. The design is performed via Lyapunov-based methods and its effectiveness is assessed via simulations on a multibody vehicle simulator.     

Robust model predictive control for constrained continuous-time nonlinear systems

In this paper, a robust model predictive control (MPC) is designed for a class of constrained continuous-time nonlinear systems with bounded additive disturbances. The robust MPC consists of a nonlinear feedback control and a continuous-time model-based dual-mode MPC. The nonlinear feedback control guarantees the actual trajectory being contained in a tube centred at the nominal trajectory. The dual-mode MPC is designed to ensure asymptotic convergence of the nominal trajectory to zero. This paper extends current results on discrete-time model-based tube MPC and linear system model-based tube MPC to continuous-time nonlinear model-based tube MPC. The feasibility and robustness of the proposed robust MPC have been demonstrated by theoretical analysis and applications to a cart-damper springer system and a one-link robot manipulator.     

Two-step output feedback predictive control for Hammerstein systems with networked-induced time delays

This paper is mainly concerned with the design problem of two-step model predictive control (MPC) for nonlinear systems represented by Hammerstein model, where the network-induced time delays exist between sensor to controller (S2C) and controller to actuator (C2A) links. We assume that the system state is not measurable, so the state observer is employed to estimate the state. The intermediate variable for the linear part of the system is calculated by minimising the quadratic performance function. The time-delay compensation algorithm of two-step output feedback predictive control (TSOFPC) for Hammerstein systems is presented and validated by a numerical example.     

A gradient flow approach to on-line robust pole assignment for synthesizing output feedback control systems

Pole assignment is a basic design method for synthesis of feedback control systems. In this paper, a gradient flow approach is presented for robust pole assignment in synthesizing output feedback control systems. The proposed approach is shown to be capable of synthesizing linear output feedback control systems via on-line robust pole assignment. Convergence of the gradient flow can be guaranteed. Moreover, with appropriate design parameters the gradient flow converges exponentially to an optimal solution to the robust pole assignment problem and the closed-loop control system based on the gradient flow is globally exponentially stable. These desired properties make it possible to apply the proposed approach to slowly time-varying linear control systems. Simulation results are shown to demonstrate the effectiveness and advantages of the proposed approach.     

Robust static output feedback control for linear discrete-time systems with time-varying uncertainties

This paper is concerned with the problem of designing robust static output feedback controllers for linear discrete-time systems with time-varying polytopic uncertainties. Sufficient conditions for robust static output feedback stabilizing controller designs are given in terms of solutions to a set of linear matrix inequalities, and the results are extended to H₂ and H_∞ static output feedback controller designs. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed design methods.     

Adaptive model predictive control for a class of constrained linear systems based on the comparison model

This paper proposes an adaptive model predictive control (MPC) algorithm for a class of constrained linear systems, which estimates system parameters on-line and produces the control input satisfying input/state constraints for possible parameter estimation errors. The key idea is to combine the robust MPC method based on the comparison model with an adaptive parameter estimation method suitable for MPC. To this end, first, a new parameter update method based on the moving horizon estimation is proposed, which allows to predict an estimation error bound over the prediction horizon. Second, an adaptive MPC algorithm is developed by combining the on-line parameter estimation with an MPC method based on the comparison model, suitably modified to cope with the time-varying case. This method guarantees feasibility and stability of the closed-loop system in the presence of state/input constraints. A numerical example is given to demonstrate its effectiveness.