Robust stability analysis of fractional order interval polynomials

The paper deals with the robust stability analysis of a Fractional Order Interval Polynomial (FOIP) family. Some new results are presented for testing the Bounded Input Bounded Output (BIBO) stability of dynamical control systems whose characteristic polynomials are fractional order polynomials with interval uncertainty structure. It is shown that the Kharitonov theorem is not applicable for this type of polynomial. A procedure is given for computation of the value set of FOIP. Based on the value set, an algorithm is presented for testing the stability of FOIP. The results presented in the paper are useful for the analysis and design of Fractional Order Interval Control Systems (FOICS). Examples are given to show how the proposed method can be used to assess the effects of parametric variations on the stability in feedback loops with fractional order interval transfer functions.     

Extension of the root-locus method to a certain class of fractional-order systems

In this paper, the well-known root-locus method is developed for the special subset of linear time-invariant systems commonly known as fractional-order systems. Transfer functions of these systems are rational functions with polynomials of rational powers of the Laplace variable s. Such systems are defined on a Riemann surface because of their multi-valued nature. A set of rules for plotting the root loci on the first Riemann sheet is presented. The important features of the classical root-locus method such as asymptotes, roots condition on the real axis and breakaway points are extended to the fractional case. It is also shown that the proposed method can assess the closed-loop stability of fractional-order systems in the presence of a varying gain in the loop. Moreover, the effect of perturbation on the root loci is discussed. Three illustrative examples are presented to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.     

Formal modeling and verification of fractional order linear systems

This paper presents a formalization of a fractional order linear system in a higher-order logic (HOL) theorem proving system. Based on the formalization of the Grünwald–Letnikov (GL) definition, we formally specify and verify the linear and superposition properties of fractional order systems. The proof provides a rigor and solid underpinnings for verifying concrete fractional order linear control systems. Our implementation in HOL demonstrates the effectiveness of our approach in practical applications.     

Probabilistic robust stabilization of fractional order systems with interval uncertainty

This study investigates effects of fractional order perturbation on the robust stability of linear time invariant systems with interval uncertainty. For this propose, a probabilistic stability analysis method based on characteristic root region accommodation in the first Riemann sheet is developed for interval systems. Stability probability distribution is calculated with respect to value of fractional order. Thus, we can figure out the fractional order interval, which makes the system robust stable. Moreover, the dependence of robust stability on the fractional order perturbation is analyzed by calculating the order sensitivity of characteristic polynomials. This probabilistic approach is also used to develop a robust stabilization algorithm based on parametric perturbation strategy. We present numerical examples demonstrating utilization of stability probability distribution in robust stabilization problems of interval uncertain systems.     

Estimation and disturbance rejection performance for fractional order fuzzy systems

This paper gives attention to the issues of output tracking and disturbance rejection performance for a class of fractional order Takagi–Sugeno fuzzy systems in the presence of time-varying delay and unknown external disturbances. More specifically, a new configuration of a fractional order modified repetitive controller that incorporates an improved equivalent-input-disturbance estimator and gain fluctuations in its design is proposed to perform disturbance rejection for the addressed system. By introducing a continuous frequency distributed equivalent model and using the Lyapunov–Krasovskii stability theory, a new set of sufficient conditions ensuring robust asymptotic stability of the resulting closed-loop system is obtained in the framework of linear matrix inequalities. Finally, a numerical example is presented to validate the developed theoretical results, where it is shown that the obtained conditions could force the considered system output to exactly track the given any kind of reference signal by compensating the unknown external disturbance.     

A simple method of tuning parallel cascade controllers for unstable FOPTD systems

A simple method is proposed to design parallel cascade controllers for open loop unstable processes. A proportional (P)controller is considered for the secondary loop and a proportional integral (PI) controller is considered for the primary loop (P/PI control configuration). Coefficients of the corresponding powers of s (Laplace variable), in the numerator is matched with the coefficients of the corresponding powers of s in the denominator of a closed loop transfer function for a servo problem. Three simulation case studies are considered in this paper. The first case involves a stable secondary loop process and an unstable primary process, the second case involves both unstable primary and secondary processes and the third one, a simulation application to a nonlinear bioreactor model equations. For comparison purposes, P/PI controller design is also carried out by improved simultaneous relay autotuning method, synthesis method and minimizing ISE criterion method. It is found that the proposed method gives a better performance. Robust stability analysis using the complimentary sensitivity function is carried out. The present method is found to be more robust.     

不确定线性系统的一种鲁棒保稳定最优控制方案

针对不确定性系统,提出了鲁棒保稳定控制设想。建立了改进的鲁棒性回差方程,给出闭环系统鲁棒保稳定的充分条件,以及增益和相位裕度描述形式。同时还给出了相应的鲁棒保稳定控制系统设计方法,并辅以打浆过程鲁棒保稳定控制系统的设计实列和仿真结果。     

Robust stability and stabilization of fractional order linear systems with positive real uncertainty

This paper investigates the robust stability and stabilization of fractional order linear systems with positive real uncertainty. Firstly, sufficient conditions for the asymptotical stability of such uncertain fractional order systems are presented. Secondly, the existence conditions and design methods of the state feedback controller, static output feedback controller and observer-based controller for asymptotically stabilizing such uncertain fractional order systems are derived. The results are obtained in terms of linear matrix inequalities. Finally, some numerical examples are given to validate the proposed theoretical results.     

时滞不确定超高速电液比例系统的H∞控制器研究

根据Lyapunov稳定性原理,给出了具有状态和输入时滞的参数不确定系统鲁棒渐近稳定的充分条件,并采用LM I方法得出了满足鲁棒H∞性能指标的H∞控制器的解,最后通过超高速电液比例系统H∞控制器的设计,证明了该方法的有效性。     

The design of NMSS fractional-order predictive functional controller for unstable systems with time delay

Open-loop unstable systems are more difficult to control than stable processes. In presence of time delay and uncertainty, the complexity of problem increases. In this paper, non-minimal state space predictive functional control (NMSS-PFC) infrastructure has been generalized for control of unstable systems with time delay. At first, NMSS system representation has been extended for a so-called coprime-factorized equivalent model of the unstable processes. Then, the proposed NMSS-fractional-order PFC (NMSS-FOPFC) has been formulated via a fractional order cost function in terms of the output tracking error vector. In the developed formulation and via the NMSS structure, the constraints on inputs of the system could be easily formulated and employment of fractional order cost function led to improved performance even in case of disturbances, perturbations or uncertainties. Closed loop robust stability analysis was also performed based on small gain theorem and verified via simulations. Simulation examples show that the proposed NMSS-FOPFC results in improved nominal and perturbed responses compared to conventional methods. Comparison has been carried out by considering integral of absolute error (IAE) and integral of squared error (ISE) as well as step response transient and steady state properties and the control effort.     

Hopf bifurcation to a short porous journal-bearing system using the Brinkman model: weakly nonlinear stability

On the basis of the Brinkman model, the weakly nonlinear stability characteristics of short porous journal-bearing systems are presented. By applying the Hopf bifurcation theory, the weakly nonlinear behaviors near the critical stability boundary are predicted. According to results, the onset of oil whirl for porous bearings is a bifurcation phenomenon; it can exhibit supercritical limit cycles or subcritical limit cycles for journal speeds in the vicinity of the bifurcation point. With a fixed permeability parameter, such supercritical limit cycles for journal speeds in excess of the threshold speed are confined to a specific region in the (ω, ε_s) plane; and outside this region subcritical limit cycles exist for journal speeds below the threshold speed. In addition, increasing the value of system parameter, S_p, may change supercritical bifurcation into the more complicated subcritical bifurcation.     

Stability analysis of a class of fractional order nonlinear systems with order lying in (0, 2)

This paper investigates the stability of n-dimensional fractional order nonlinear systems with commensurate order 0 <α<2. By using the Mittag-Leffler function, Laplace transform and the Gronwall–Bellman lemma, one sufficient condition is attained for the local asymptotical stability of a class of fractional order nonlinear systems with order lying in (0, 2). According to this theory, stabilizing a class of fractional order nonlinear systems only need a linear state feedback controller. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed theory.     

Robust-optimal active vibration controllers design for the uncertain flexible mechanical systems possessing integrity via genetic algorithm

In this paper, a robust-optimal control approach is proposed to treat the active vibration control (or active vibration suppression) problem of flexible mechanical systems under mode truncation, linear time-varying parameter uncertainties in both the controlled and residual parts, feedback gain perturbations, estimator gain perturbations and partial actuator failures. A sufficient condition is proposed to ensure that the flexible mechanical systems with time-varying structured parameter uncertainties are asymptotically stable against partial actuator failures. Systems which have such a property of keeping stable under partial actuator failures are said to possess integrity, and this is an inherent property of MIMO systems. Based on the robust stability constraint and the minimization of a defined H₂ performance, a hybrid Taguchi-genetic algorithm (HTGA) is applied to solve the optimal state feedback controller and observer design problem of uncertain flexible mechanical systems. A design example of a flexible rotor system is given to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed approach. It is shown that the proposed approach can obtain satisfactory results.     

Hurwitz stability analysis of fractional order LTI systems according to principal characteristic equations

With power mapping (conformal mapping), stability analyses of fractional order linear time invariant (LTI) systems are carried out by consideration of the root locus of expanded degree integer order polynomials in the principal Riemann sheet. However, it is essential to show the left half plane (LHP) stability analysis of fractional order characteristic polynomials in the s plane in order to close the gap emerging in stability analyses of fractional order and integer order systems. In this study, after briefly discussing the relation between the characteristic root orientations and the system stability, the author presents a methodology to establish principal characteristic polynomials to perform the LHP stability analysis of fractional order systems. The principal characteristic polynomials are formed by factorizing principal characteristic roots. Then, the LHP stability analysis of fractional order systems can be carried out by using the root equivalency of fractional order principal characteristic polynomials. Illustrative examples are presented to explain how to find equivalent roots of fractional order principal characteristic polynomials in order to carry out the LHP stability analyses of fractional order nominal and interval systems.     

An efficient numerical algorithm for stability testing of fractional-delay systems

This paper presents a numerical algorithm for BIBO stability testing of a certain class of the so-called fractional-delay systems. The characteristic function of the systems under consideration is a multi-valued function of the Laplace variable s which is defined on a Riemann surface with finite number of Riemann sheets where the origin is a branch point. The stability analysis of such systems is not straightforward because there is no universally applicable analytical method to find the roots of the characteristic equation on the right half-plane of the first Riemann sheet. The proposed method is based on the Rouche’s theorem which provides the number of the zeros of a given function in a given simple closed contour. One advantage of the proposed method over previous works is that it gives the number and the location of the unstable poles. The algorithm has a reliable result which is illustrated by several examples.     

A new and simple method to construct root locus of general fractional-order systems

Recently fractional-order (FO) differential equations are widely used in the areas of modeling and control. They are multivalued in nature hence their stability is defined using Riemann surfaces. The stability analysis of FO linear systems using the technique of Root Locus is the main focus of this paper. Procedure to plot root locus of FO systems in s-plane has been proposed by many authors, which are complicated, and analysis using these methods is also difficult and incomplete. In this paper, we have proposed a simple method of plotting root locus of FO systems. In the proposed method, the FO system is transformed into its integer-order counterpart and then root locus of this transformed system is plotted. It is shown with the help of examples that the root locus of this transformed system (which is obviously very easy to plot) has exactly the same shape and structure as the root locus of the original FO system. So stability of the FO system can be directly deduced and analyzed from the root locus of the transformed IO system. This proposed procedure of developing and analyzing the root locus of FO systems is much easier and straightforward than the existing methods suggested in the literature. This root locus plot is used to comment about the stability of FO system. It also gives the range for the amplifier gain k required to maintain this stability. The reliability of the method is verified with analytical calculations.     

Comments on "H∞ synchronization of uncertain fractional order chaotic systems: adaptive fuzzy approach" [ISA Trans 50 (2011) 548-556

In this note, we demonstrate that the stability analysis in the main theorem of the paper [Lin T-C, Kuo C-H. H(∞) synchronization of uncertain fractional order chaotic systems: adaptive fuzzy approach. ISA Trans 2011;50:548-56] is wrong.     

Robust control design for a wheel loader using and feedback linearization based methods

The heavy equipment industry is building more and more equipment with electro-hydraulic control systems. The existing industry practices for the design of control systems in construction machines primarily rely on classical designs coupled with ad-hoc synthesis procedures. Such practices produce desirable results, but lack a systematic procedure to account for invariably present plant uncertainties in the design process as well as coupled dynamics of the multi-input multi-output (MIMO) configuration. In this paper, two H_∞ based robust control designs are presented for an automatic bucket leveling mechanism of a wheel loader. In one case, the controller is designed for the base plant model. In another case, the controller is designed for the plant with a feedback linearization control law applied yielding improved stability robustness. A MIMO nonlinear model for an electro-hydraulically actuated wheel loader linkage is considered. The robustness of the controller designs are validated by using analysis and by simulation using a complete nonlinear model of the wheel loader linkage and hydraulic system.