Finite‐time boundedness of switched systems with time‐varying delays via sampled‐data control

In the framework of sampled‐data control, finite‐time boundedness (FTB) of switched systems with time‐varying delays is investigated. Sufficient conditions for FTB of switched systems with time‐varying delays via sampled‐data control are proposed. Moreover, considering the relationship between the sampling period and the mode‐dependent average dwell time, switching signals are designed. In addition, finite‐time weighted L₂‐gain (FTW‐L₂‐gain) of switched systems with time‐varying delays is proposed to measure their disturbance tolerance capacity within a finite‐time interval. Multiple Lyapunov‐Krasovskii functionals are applied to complete subsequent proofs in detail. Simulation results are exemplified to verify the proposed method.     

Adaptive tracking for MIMO nonlinear systems with Unknown fast time‐varying parameters

In this paper, we consider a class of MIMO nonlinear systems with fast time‐varying parametric uncertainties. First, the tracking problem of general nonlinearly time‐varyingly parameterized systems is solved. Then, a Lyapunov‐based singularity free adaptive controller is proposed for the considered system. Specifically, an estimation approach with a proportional plus integral adaptation scheme is utilized to update the estimations of the unknown parameters under a mild assumption that the signs of the leading minors of the input gain matrix are known. The asymptotic stability is achieved with full state feedback. Furthermore, we design an output feedback controller by utilizing a standard high‐gain observer and achieve uniformly ultimately bounded convergence. Simulation examples illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods.     

Consensus of multiagent systems with nonlinear dynamics and time‐varying communication delays

This paper deals with the local consensus of multiagent systems with nonlinear dynamics communication delays simultaneously. By introducing a weighted average state and applying the properties of the Laplacian matrix eigenvalues, the system is decoupled into several subsystems, firstly, to reduce complexity of theory analysis. Then, a new augmented vector containing single and double integral terms is constructed and the corresponding Lyapunov functional with triple integral terms is introduced. Meanwhile, in order to improve the estimating accuracy of the derivatives of constructed Lyapunov functional, single integral inequalities and double integral inequalities via auxiliary functions, an extended relaxed integral inequality and an reciprocally convex approach are used, as a result, stability criterion with less conservatism is derived, which guarantees the local consensus of the considered systems. Finally, numerical examples are provided to check the improvement of the proposed method over the existing works.     

Tracking for nonlinear plants with multiple unknown time‐varying state delays using sliding mode with adaptation

In this paper, we develop a sliding mode model reference adaptive control (MRAC) scheme for a class of nonlinear dynamic systems with multiple time‐varying state delays, which is robust with respect to unknown plant delays, to a nonlinear perturbation, and to an external disturbance with unknown bounds. An appropriate Lyapunov–Krasovskii‐type functional is introduced to design the adaptation algorithms, and to prove stability. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Adaptive quantized tracking control for uncertain switched nonstrict‐feedback nonlinear systems with discrete and distributed time‐varying delays

This paper is concerned with an adaptive tracking problem for a more general class of switched nonstrict‐feedback nonlinear time‐delay systems in the presence of quantized input. The system structure in a nonstrict‐feedback form, the discrete and distributed time‐varying delays, the sector‐bounded quantized input, and arbitrary switching behavior are involved in the considered systems. In particular, to overcome the difficulties from the distributed time‐varying delays and the sector‐bounded quantized input, the mean‐value theorem for integrals and some special techniques are exploited respectively. Moreover, by combining the Lyapunov‐Razumikhin method, dynamic surface control technique, fuzzy logic systems approximation, and variable separation technique, a quadratic common Lyapunov function is easily built for all subsystems and a common adaptive quantized control scheme containing only 1 adaptive parameter is proposed. It is shown that the tracking error converges to an adjustable neighborhood of the origin whereas all signals of the closed‐loop systems are semiglobally uniformly ultimately bounded. Finally, 2 simulation examples are provided to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed design methodology.     

Robust stability of nonlinear time‐delay systems with interval time‐varying delay

This paper deals with the problem of obtaining delay‐dependent stability conditions and L₂‐gain analysis for a class of nonlinear time‐delay systems with norm‐bounded and possibly time‐varying uncertainties. No restrictions on the derivative of the time‐varying delay are imposed, though lower and upper bounds of the delay interval are assumed to be known. A Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional approach is proposed to derive novel delay‐dependent stability conditions which are expressed in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). To reduce conservatism, the work exploits the idea of splitting the delay interval in multiple regions, so that specific conditions can be imposed to a unique functional in the different regions. This improves the computed bounds for certain delay‐dependent integral terms, providing less conservative LMI conditions. Examples are provided to demonstrate the reduced conservatism with respect to the available results in the literature. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Adaptive discrete neural observer design for nonlinear systems with unknown time‐delay

This paper focuses on the adaptive observer design for nonlinear discrete‐time MIMO systems with unknown time‐delay and nonlinear dynamics. The delayed states involved in the system are arguments of a nonlinear function and only the estimated delay is utilized. By constructing an appropriate Lyapunov–Krasovskii function, the delay estimation error is considered in the observer parameter design. The proposed method is then extended to the system with a nonlinear output measurement equation and the delayed dynamics. With the help of a high‐order neural network (HONN), the requirement for a precise system model, the linear‐in‐the‐parameters (LIP) assumption of the delayed states, the Lipschitz or norm‐boundedness assumption of unknown nonlinearities are removed. A novel converse Lyapunov technical lemma is also developed and used to prove the uniform ultimate boundedness of the proposed observer. The effectiveness of the proposed results is verified by simulations. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Observer‐based Adaptive fuzzy control of time‐delay uncertain nonlinear systems

An observer‐based adaptive fuzzy model following controller is proposed for a class of MIMO nonlinear uncertain systems to cope with time‐delay, uncertainty in plant structure and disturbances. Based on universal approximation theorem the unknown nonlinear functions are approximated by fuzzy systems, where the premise and the consequent parts of the fuzzy rules are tuned with adaptive schemes. To have more robustness, and at the same time to alleviate chattering, an adaptive discontinuous structure is suggested. Moreover, the availability of the states measurement is not required and an adaptive observer is used to estimate the states. Asymptoic stability of the overall system is ensured using suitable a Lyapunov‐Krasovskii functional candidate. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd and Chinese Automatic Control Society     

Compensation of time‐varying input delay for discrete‐time nonlinear systems

We consider general discrete‐time nonlinear systems (of arbitrary nonlinear growth) with time‐varying input delays and design an explicit predictor feedback controller to compensate the input delay. Such results have been achieved in continuous time, but only under the restriction that the delay rate is bounded by unity, which ensures that the input signal flow does not get reversed, namely, that old inputs are not felt multiple times by the plant (because on such subsequent occasions, the control input acts as a disturbance). For discrete‐time systems, an analogous restriction would be that the input delay is non‐increasing. In this work, we do not impose such a restriction. We provide a design and a global stability analysis that allow the input delay to be arbitrary (containing intervals of increase, decrease, or stagnation) over an arbitrarily long finite period of time. Unlike in the continuous‐time case, the predictor feedback law in the discrete‐time case is explicit. We specialize the result to linear time‐invariant systems and provide an explicit estimate of the exponential decay rate. Carefully constructed examples are provided to illustrate the design and analytical challenges. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Global finite‐time stabilization via time‐varying output‐feedback for uncertain nonlinear systems with unknown growth rate

This paper considers the global finite‐time output‐feedback stabilization for a class of uncertain nonlinear systems. Comparing with the existing related literature, two essential obstacles exist: On the one hand, the systems in question allow serious parametric unknowns and serious time variations coupling to the unmeasurable states, which is reflected in that the systems have the unmeasurable states dependent growth with the rate being an unknown constant multiplying a known continuous function of time. On the other hand, the systems possess remarkably inherent nonlinearities, whose growth allows to be not only low‐order but especially high‐order with respect to the unmeasurable states. To effectively cope with these obstacles, we established a time‐varying output‐feedback strategy to achieve the finite‐time stabilization for the systems under investigation. First, a time‐varying state‐feedback controller is constructed by adding an integrator method, and by homogeneous domination approach, a time‐varying reduced‐order observer is designed to precisely rebuild the unmeasurable states. Then, by certainty equivalence principle, a desired time‐varying output‐feedback controller is constructed for the systems. It is shown that, as long as the involved time‐varying gain is chosen fast enough to overtake the serious parametric unknowns and the serious time variations, the output‐feedback controller renders that the closed‐loop system states converge to zero in finite time. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Global stabilization via nested saturation function for high‐order feedforward nonlinear systems with unknown time‐varying delays

We consider the global stabilization problem for a class of high‐order feedforward time‐delay nonlinear systems. The nested saturation function method is inherently improved to develop a continuous controller, without the requirements on the memory of the past input and the prior information of the time‐varying delays. The proposed controller is less conservative in terms of the level of nonlinearities whose upper bounds include high‐order, low‐order, and linear terms. The design procedures are provided based on the sign function technique, the homogeneous domination idea, and the search of Lyapunov function. Finally, a simulation example is used to demonstrate the application of the obtained theoretical results. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Robust‐decentralized tracking control for a class of uncertain MIMO nonlinear systems with time‐varying delays

A new control design method based on signal compensation is proposed for a class of uncertain multi‐input multi‐output (MIMO) nonlinear systems in block‐triangular form with nonlinear uncertainties, unknown virtual control coefficients, strongly coupled interconnections, time‐varying delays, and external disturbances. By this method, the controller design is performed in a backstepping manner. At each step of backstepping procedure, a nominal virtual controller is first designed to get desired output tracking for the nominal disturbance‐free subsystem, and then a robust virtual compensator is designed to restrain the effect of the uncertainties, delays involved in the subsystem, and the couplings among the subsystems. The designed controller is linear and time‐invariant, so the explosion of complexity in the control law is avoid. It is proved that robust stability and robust practical tracking property of the closed‐loop system can be ensured, and the tracking errors can be made as small as desired. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Global adaptive stabilization for high‐order uncertain time‐varying nonlinear systems with time‐delays

This paper focuses on the adaptive stabilization problem for a class of high‐order nonlinear systems with time‐varying uncertainties and unknown time‐delays. Time‐varying uncertain parameters are compensated by combining a function gain with traditional adaptive technique, and unknown multiple time‐delays are manipulated by the delicate choice of an appropriate Lyapunov function. With the help of homogeneous domination idea and recursive design, a continuous adaptive state‐feedback controller is designed to guarantee that resulting closed‐loop systems are globally uniformly stable and original system states converge to zero. The effectiveness of the proposed control scheme is illustrated by the stabilization of delayed neural network systems. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A novel adaptive robust control architecture for bilateral teleoperation systems under time‐varying delays

Bilateral teleoperation technology has caused wide attentions due to its applications in various remote operation systems. The communication delay becomes one of the main challenging issues in the teleoperation control design. Meanwhile, various nonlinearities, parameter variations, and modeling uncertainties existing in manipulator and environment dynamics need to be considered carefully in order to achieve good control performance. In this paper, a globally stable nonlinear adaptive robust control algorithm is developed for bilateral teleoperation systems to deal with these control issues. Namely, the unknown dynamical parameters of the environmental force are estimated online by the improved least square adaptation law. A novel communication structure is proposed where only the master position signal is transmitted to the slave side for the tracking design, and the online estimators of the environmental parameters are transmitted from the slave to the master to replace the traditional environmental force measurement. Because the estimated environmental parameters are not power signals, the passivity problem of the communication channel and the trade‐off limitation between the transparency performance and robust stability in traditional teleoperation control are essentially avoided. The nonlinear adaptive robust control is subsequently developed to deal with nonlinearities, unknown parameters, and modeling uncertainties of the master, slave, and environmental dynamics, so that the guaranteed transient and steady‐state transparency performance can be achieved. The experiments on two voice‐coil motor‐driven manipulators are carried out, and the comparative results verify that the proposed control algorithm achieves the excellent control performance and the guaranteed robust stability simultaneously under time delays. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Nonlinear adaptive learning control for unknown time‐varying parameters and unknown time‐varying delays

A new adaptive learning control approach is proposed for a class of first‐order nonlinear systems with two unknown time‐varying parameters and an unknown time‐varying delay. By reconstructing the system equation, all unknown time‐varying terms, including the time‐varying delay, are combined into an unknown periodic time‐varying vector, which is estimated by a periodic adaptive mechanism. By constructing a Lyapunov–Krasovskii‐like composite energy function (CEF), we prove the boundedness of all signals and the convergence of the tracking error. The results are extended to two classes of high‐order nonlinear systems with mixed parameters. Three simulation examples are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the control algorithms proposed in this paper. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd and Chinese Automatic Control Society     

Input delay compensation of nonlinear stochastic systems with both state and input delays by prediction approach

In this study, we present an extension of the prediction scheme (dynamic control) for nonlinear stochastic systems with both input and state delays. The stochastic system includes multiplicative noise and it is modelled as Ito stochastic differential equation. Input delay is considered to be equal or less than state delay and both delays are considered to be constant. At first, a new formula for prediction of the system's state is presented and then by means of this prediction vector, control input is constructed. To calculate the stabilising gain of the predictive controller, some sufficient delay-independent conditions in the form of linear matrix inequality are presented. Finally, simulation examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.     

Global asymptotic stabilization of feedforward nonlinear systems with a delay in the input

In this paper, by constructing appropriate Lyapunov–Krasovskii functionals (LKF) and applying the model transformation of time-delay systems, a design scheme of state feedback controller for a class of feedforward nonlinear systems with a delay in the input is proposed. The designed controllers have a very simple structure and do not involve any saturation or recursive computation, which is widely applied in designing a controller of feedforward nonlinear systems. Using the transformation of coordinates and the property of Hurwitz polynomial, the problem of designing controller can be converted into the problem of finding a parameter, which can be solved by solving the optimization problem with linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) constraints. A simulation example is given to show the effectiveness of the proposed design procedure.     

Output feedback control for a class of stochastic high‐order nonlinear systems with time‐varying delays

This paper discusses the problem of output feedback stabilization for a more general class of stochastic high‐order nonlinear systems with time‐varying delays. On the basis of a subtle homogeneous observer and controller construction, and the homogeneous domination approach, the closed‐loop system is globally asymptotically stable in probability, by choosing an appropriate Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional. An example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed design procedure. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Two‐stage stability control for strict‐feedback systems with input delays and input nonlinear uncertainties

In this paper, a two‐stage control procedure is proposed for stabilization of a class of strict‐feedback systems with unknown constant time delays and nonlinear uncertainties in the input. A nominal controller is first designed to compensate input time delays without considering input nonlinear uncertainties. Extended from backstepping algorithm, input delay compensation is realized by means of predicted states that are computed through integration of cascaded system dynamics, making the nominal closed‐loop system asymptotically stable. Based on the nominal controller presented for the input delay system, a multi‐timescale system is subsequently developed to estimate the unknown input nonlinearity and make the estimate approach the nominal control input as fast as possible. It is proved that the proposed control scheme can make states of the strict‐feedback systems converge to zero and all the signals of the closed‐loop systems are guaranteed to be bounded in the presence of input time delays and nonlinear uncertainties. Simulation verification is carried out to illuminate the effectiveness of the proposed control approach.