Hamiltonian discretization of boundary control systems

A fundamental problem in the simulation and control of complex physical systems containing distributed-parameter components concerns finite-dimensional approximation. Numerical methods for partial differential equations (PDEs) usually assume the boundary conditions to be given, while more often than not the interaction of the distributed-parameter components with the other components takes place precisely via the boundary. On the other hand, finite-dimensional approximation methods for infinite-dimensional input-output systems (e.g., in semi-group format) are not easily relatable to numerical techniques for solving PDEs, and are mainly confined to linear PDEs. In this paper we take a new view on this problem by proposing a method for spatial discretization of boundary control systems based on a particular type of mixed finite elements, resulting in a finite-dimensional input-output system. The approach is based on formulating the distributed-parameter component as an infinite-dimensional port-Hamiltonian system, and exploiting the geometric structure of this representation for the choice of appropriate mixed finite elements. The spatially discretized system is again a port-Hamiltonian system, which can be treated as an approximating lumped-parameter physical system of the same type. In the current paper this program is carried out for the case of an ideal transmission line described by the telegrapher's equations, and for the two-dimensional wave equation.     

Jet bundle formulation of infinite-dimensional port-Hamiltonian systems using differential operators

We consider infinite-dimensional port-Hamiltonian systems described on jet bundles. Based on a power balance relation we introduce the port-Hamiltonian system representation using differential operators regarding the structural mapping, the dissipation mapping and the input mapping. In contrast to the well-known representation on the basis of the underlying Stokes–Dirac structure our approach is not necessarily based on using energy-variables which leads to a different port-Hamiltonian representation of the analyzed partial differential equations. The presented constructions will be specialized to mechanical systems to which class also the presented examples belong.     

Full-order observer design for a class of port-Hamiltonian systems

We consider a special class of port-Hamiltonian systems for which we propose a design methodology for constructing globally exponentially stable full-order observers using a passivity based approach. The essential idea is to make the augmented system consisting of the plant and the observer dynamics to become strictly passive with respect to an invariant manifold defined on the extended state-space, on which the state estimation error is zero. We first introduce the concept of passivity of a system with respect to a manifold by defining a new input and output on the extended state-space and then perform a partial state feedback passivation which leads to the construction of the observer. We then illustrate this observer design procedure on two physical examples, the magnetic levitation system and the inverted pendulum on the cart system.     

Discrete port-Hamiltonian systems

Either from a control theoretic viewpoint or from an analysis viewpoint it is necessary to convert smooth systems to discrete systems, which can then be implemented on computers for numerical simulations. Discrete models can be obtained either by discretizing a smooth model, or by directly modeling at the discrete level itself. One of the goals of this paper is to model port-Hamiltonian systems at the discrete level. We also show that the dynamics of the discrete models we obtain exactly correspond to the dynamics obtained via a usual discretization procedure. In this sense we offer an alternative to the usual procedure of modeling (at the smooth level) and discretization.     

Asymptotic stabilization via control by interconnection of port-Hamiltonian systems

We study the asymptotic properties of control by interconnection, a passivity-based controller design methodology for stabilization of port-Hamiltonian systems. It is well-known that the method, in its basic form, imposes some unnatural controller initialization to yield asymptotic stability of the desired equilibrium. We propose two different ways to overcome this restriction, one based on adaptation ideas, and the other one adding an extra damping injection to the controller. The analysis and design principles are illustrated through an academic example.     

A port-Hamiltonian formulation of physical switching systems with varying constraints

This paper extends a generic method to design a port-Hamiltonian formulation modeling all geometric interconnection structures of a physical switching system with varying constraints. A non-minimal kernel representation of this family of structures (named Dirac structures) is presented. It is derived from the parameterized incidence matrices which are a mathematical representation of the primal and dual dynamic network graphs associated with the system. This representation has the advantage of making it possible to model complex physical switching systems with varying constraints and to fall within the framework of passivity-based control.     

Robust integral control of port-Hamiltonian systems: The case of non-passive outputs with unmatched disturbances

Regulation of passive outputs of nonlinear systems can be easily achieved with an integral control (IC). In many applications, however, the signal of interest is not a passive output and ensuring its regulation remains an open problem. Also, IC of passive systems rejects constant input disturbances, but no similar property can be ensured if the disturbance is not matched. In this paper we address the aforementioned problems and propose a procedure to design robust ICs for port-Hamiltonian models, that characterize the behavior of a large class of physical systems. Necessary and sufficient conditions for the solvability of the problem, in terms of some rank and controllability properties of the linearized system, are provided. For a class of fully actuated mechanical systems, a globally asymptotically stabilizing solution is given. Simulations of the classical pendulum system illustrate the good performance of the scheme.     

Energy shaping of distributed parameter port-Hamiltonian systems based on finite element approximation

The main contribution of this paper is a procedure for the control by energy shaping via Casimir generation of infinite dimensional port-Hamiltonian systems based on a particular finite element approximation. The proposed approach is justified by the fact that the adopted spatial discretization technique is able to preserve Casimir functions in the closed-loop system when going from the distributed to the (approximated) lumped parameter system. Besides the intrinsic difficulties related to the large number of state variables, the finite element model is generally given in terms of a Dirac structure and is completely a-causal, which implies that the plant dynamics is not given in standard input-state-output form, but as a set of DAEs. Consequently, the classical energy Casimir method has to be extended in order to deal with dynamical systems with constraints, usually appearing in the form of Lagrangian multipliers. The general methodology is illustrated with the help of an example in which the distributed parameter system is a lossless transmission line.     

Structure preserving model reduction of port-Hamiltonian systems by moment matching at infinity

Model reduction of port-Hamiltonian systems by means of the Krylov methods is considered, aiming at port-Hamiltonian structure preservation. It is shown how to employ the Arnoldi method for model reduction in a particular coordinate system in order to preserve not only a specific number of the Markov parameters but also the port-Hamiltonian structure for the reduced order model. Furthermore it is shown how the Lanczos method can be applied in a structure preserving manner to a subclass of port-Hamiltonian systems which is characterized by an algebraic condition. In fact, for the same subclass of port-Hamiltonian systems the Arnoldi method and the Lanczos method turn out to be equivalent in the sense of producing reduced order port-Hamiltonian models with the same transfer function.     

Hamiltonian perspective on compartmental reaction–diffusion networks

Inspired by the recent developments in modeling and analysis of reaction networks, we provide a geometric formulation of the reversible reaction networks under the influence of diffusion. Using the graph knowledge of the underlying reaction network, the obtained reaction–diffusion system is a distributed-parameter port-Hamiltonian system on a compact spatial domain. Motivated by the need for computer-based design, we offer a spatially consistent discretization of the PDE system and, in a systematic manner, recover a compartmental ODE model on a simplicial triangulation of the spatial domain. Exploring the properties of a balanced weighted Laplacian matrix of the reaction network and the Laplacian of the simplicial complex, we characterize the space of equilibrium points and provide a simple stability analysis on the state space modulo the space of equilibrium points. The paper rules out the possibility of the persistence of spatial patterns for the compartmental balanced reaction–diffusion networks.     

On Padé approximations, quadratic stability and discretization of switched linear systems

In this note we consider the stability preserving properties of diagonal Padé approximations to the matrix exponential. We show that while diagonal Padé approximations preserve quadratic stability when going from continuous-time to discrete-time, the converse is not true. We discuss the implications of this result for discretizing switched linear systems. We also show that for continuous-time switched systems which are exponentially stable, but not quadratically stable, a Padé approximation may not preserve stability.     

On the addition of integral action to port-controlled Hamiltonian systems

A technique that provides closed loop integral action depending on the passive outputs of port-controlled Hamiltonian systems is already available. This paper addresses a new method that allows us to add integral action also on system variables having relative degree higher than one, while still preserving the Hamiltonian form and, thus, closed loop stability. The new approach is applied to design speed regulation controllers for the permanent magnet synchronous motor. Closed loop stability and asymptotic rejection of unknown piecewise constant load torques are formally proved. This theoretically predicted control system performance is illustrated via simulation experiments, which also show that the properties hold under parameter uncertainties. This is in line with the usual practice of including integral action in a controller with the aim of improving its closed loop robustness. The fact that the method enhances the range of possible integral actions in the controller, enriched with this robustness property, allows us to assess it as a practically important complement to the well-known interconnection and damping assignment techniques developed in the framework of port-controlled Hamiltonian systems.     

Stabilization of discrete-time systems with stochastic parameters

This letter presents a solution to the problem of stabilization by a constant feedback of a linear system whose system and control matrices are multiplied by scalar correlated noise sequences.     

On stabilization of min-max systems

This note studies min-max systems which are dynamic systems involving three operations (min,max,+). We present a feedback stabilization policy for a class of min-max systems such that the closed-loop systems have a global cycle time which is the same as the maximal Lyapunov exponent of the open-loop systems. Our results are based on structural properties of min-max systems.     

Controllability of discrete time inhomogeneous bilinear systems

In this paper we derive a set of conditions which are both necessary and sufficient for complete controllability of a class of inhomogeneous discrete time bilinear systems.     

Diagnosability of fuzzy discrete event systems

In this paper, discrete event systems (DESs) are reformulated as fuzzy discrete event systems (FDESs) and fuzzy discrete event dynamical systems (FDEDSs). These frameworks include fuzzy states, events and IF-THEN rules. In these frameworks, all events occur at the same time with different membership degrees. Fuzzy states and events have been introduced to describe uncertainties that occur often in practical problems, such as fault diagnosis applications. To measure a diagnoser’s fault discrimination ability, a fuzzy diagnosability degree is proposed. If the diagnosability of the degree of the system yields one a diagnoser can be implemented to identify all possible fault types related to a system. For any degree less than one, researchers should not devote their time to distinguish all possible fault types correctly. Thus, two different diagnosability definitions FDEDS and FDES are introduced. Due to the specialized fuzzy rule-base embedded in the FDEDS, it is capable of representing a class of non-linear dynamic system. Computationally speaking, the framework of diagnosability of the FDEDS is structurally similar to the framework of diagnosability of a non-linear system. The crisp DES diagnosability has been turned into the term fuzzy diagnosability for the FDES. The newly proposed diagnosability definition allows us to define a degree of diagnosability in a class of non-linear systems. In addition, a simple fuzzy diagnosability checking method is introduced and some numerical examples are provided to illustrate this theoretical development. Finally, the potential applications of the proposed method are discussed.     

On finite dimensional realization theory of discrete time nonlinear systems

We characterize finite dimensional realizability of discrete time nonlinear systems which have a Volterra series development with separable structure of the Volterra kernels.     

Lagrange stability and boundedness of discrete event systems

Recently it has been shown that the conventional notions of stability in the sense of Lyapunov and asymptotic stability can be used to characterize the stability properties of a class of logical discrete event systems (DES). Moreover, it has been shown that stability analysis via the choice of appropriate Lyapunov functions can be used for DES and can be applied to several DES applications including manufacturing systems and computer networks (Passino et al. 1994, Burgess and Passino 1994). In this paper we extend the conventional notions and analysis of uniform boundedness, uniform ultimate boundedness, practical stability, finite time stability, and Lagrange stability so that they apply to the class of logical DES that can be defined on a metric space. Within this stability-theoretic framework we show that the standard Petri net-theoretic notions of boundedness are special cases of Lagrange stability and uniform boundedness. In addition we show that the Petri ent-theoretic approach to boundedness analysis is actually a Lyapunov approach in that the net-theoretic analysis actually produces an appropriate Lyapunov function. Moreover, via the Lyapunov approach we provide a sufficient condition for the uniform ultimate boundedness of General Petri nets. To illustrate the Petri net results, we study the boundedness properties of a rate synchronization network for manufacturing systems. In addition, we provide a detailed analysis of the Lagrange stability of a single-machine manufacturing system that uses a priority-based part servicing policy.     

State observability and condition observability for a class of interacting discrete event systems

This paper introduces the concepts of state observability and condition observability for condition systems, a class of systems composed of discrete state components which interact via discrete binary signals called conditions. Given a set of externally observed conditions, state observability implies that the state of the system can be determined from the observations, and condition observability implies that all unobserved input and output conditions of the system can be determined from the observations. In this paper, we present a class of systems which is state observable and condition observable. We present a method to synthesize an observer system to provide state and condition signal estimates for a single component subsystem.