Distributed finite‐time containment control for multiple Euler‐Lagrange systems with communication delays

In this paper, distributed finite‐time containment control for multiple Euler‐Lagrange systems with communication delays and general disturbances is investigated under directed topology by using sliding‐mode control technique. We consider that the information of dynamic leaders can be obtained by only a portion of the followers. Firstly, a nonsingular fast terminal sliding surface is selected to achieve the finite‐time convergence for the error variables. Then, a distributed finite‐time containment control algorithm is proposed where the neural network is utilized to approximate the model uncertainties and external disturbances of the systems. Furthermore, considering that error constraint method can improve the performance of the systems, a distributed finite‐time containment control algorithm is developed by transforming the error variable into another form. It is demonstrated that the containment errors are bounded in finite time by using Lyapunov theory, graph theory, and finite‐time stability theory. Numerical simulations are provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed methods.     

Command‐filtered fixed‐time trajectory tracking control of surface vehicles based on a disturbance observer

In this paper, we investigate trajectory tracking control of surface vehicles with model parameter uncertainties and external disturbances. The disturbances due to the wind, waves, and ocean currents are combined with the model parameter uncertainties as a compound disturbance. Then, a disturbance observer (DO) is introduced to estimate the compound disturbance, which can be achieved within a finite time independent of the initial estimation error. Based on the DO and, in the context of command filtered control, a novel fixed‐time backstepping control scheme is developed, by which the vehicle can track the desired trajectory with all the states globally stabilized in a given fixed time. The effectiveness and performance of the method are demonstrated by numerical simulations.     

Finite‐Time Sliding Mode Trajectory Tracking Control of Uncertain Mechanical Systems

The problem of finite‐time tracking control is studied for uncertain nonlinear mechanical systems. To achieve finite‐time convergence of tracking errors, a simple linear sliding surface based on polynomial reference trajectory is proposed to enable the trajectory tracking errors to converge to zero in a finite time, which is assigned arbitrarily in advance. The sliding mode control technique is employed in the development of the finite‐time controller to guarantee the excellent robustness of the closed‐loop system. The proposed sliding mode scheme eliminates the reaching phase problem, so that the closed‐loop system always holds the invariance property to parametric uncertainties and external disturbances. Lyapunov stability analysis is performed to show the global finite‐time convergence of the tracking errors. A numerical example of a rigid spacecraft attitude tracking problem demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed controller.     

欠驱动水下机器人三维轨迹跟踪有限时间预设性能控制

本文研究了具有不确定动态和未知时变海洋环境扰动的欠驱动水下机器人(AUVs)三维轨迹跟踪有限时间预设性能控制问题,提出新型预设性能函数和误差映射函数,将受预设性能限制的轨迹跟踪误差转变为非受限的变换后误差;构造新的超螺旋(ST)扩张状态观测器,在有限时间内实时估计AUV不确定动态和未知时变海洋环境扰动引起的总扰动;基于...     

Robust event‐triggered control of second‐order disturbed leader‐follower MASs: A nonsingular finite‐time consensus approach

This paper addresses the finite‐time and the prescribed finite‐time event‐triggered consensus tracking problems for second‐order multi‐agent systems (MASs) with uncertain disturbances. The prescribed finite‐time event‐triggered consensus of the second‐order disturbed MASs was obtained for the first time and the controller is nonsingular. Furthermore, a new self‐triggered control scheme is presented for the finite‐time consensus tracking, and the continuous communication can be avoided in the triggering condition monitoring. Hence, the finite‐time consensus tracking can be achieved with intermittent communication. Moreover, Zeno behavior is excluded for each follower. The efficiency of the proposed algorithms is verified by numerical simulations.     

Distributed Fixed‐Time Coordinated Tracking for Nonlinear Multi‐Agent Systems Under Directed Graphs

This paper is concerned with the fixed‐time coordinated tracking problem for a class of nonlinear multi‐agent systems under detail‐balanced directed communication graphs. Different from conventional finite‐time coordinated tracking strategies, the fixed‐time approach developed in this paper guarantees that a settling time bound is prescribed without dependence on initial states of agents. First, for the case of a single leader, a distributed protocol based on fixed‐time stability techniques is proposed for each follower to accomplish the consensus tracking in a fixed time. Second, in the presence of multiple leaders, a new distributed protocol is proposed such that states of followers converge to the dynamic convex hull spanned by those of leaders in a fixed time. In addition, for a class of linear multi‐agent systems, sufficient conditions that guarantee the fixed‐time coordinated tracking are provided. Finally, numerical simulations are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results.     

Formation‐containment control of networked collision‐free Lagrangian systems

The distributed formation‐containment (DFC) problem under a directed graph is addressed for networked Euler‐Lagrange systems. First, using a leader‐follower framework, the DFC problem is properly defined. For the leaders and the followers, respectively, a DFC control law is next proposed without using velocity information. Based on the artificial potential function, all the agents can achieve the control objective satisfactorily while avoiding collisions with others as well as the obstacles in the environment. By the Lyapunov stability theory, the boundedness of the error signals is guaranteed. Simulations are finally given to show the feasibility of this approach.     

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.     

Robust event‐triggered model predictive control for cyber‐physical systems under denial‐of‐service attacks

This paper investigates the resilient control problem for constrained continuous‐time cyber‐physical systems subject to bounded disturbances and denial‐of‐service (DoS) attacks. A sampled‐data robust model predictive control law with a packet‐based transmission scheduling is taken advantage to compensate for the loss of the control data during the intermittent DoS intervals, and an event‐triggered control strategy is designed to save communication and computation resources. The robust constraint satisfaction and the stability of the closed‐loop system under DoS attacks are proved. In contrast to the existing studies that guarantee the system under DoS attacks is input‐to‐state stable, the predicted input error caused by the system constraints can be dealt with by the input‐to‐state practical stability framework. Finally, a simulation example is performed to verify the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed strategy.     

Finite‐time formation control of multiple nonholonomic mobile robots

This paper considers finite‐time formation control problem for a group of nonholonomic mobile robots. The desired formation trajectory is represented by a virtual dynamic leader whose states are available to only a subset of the followers and the followers have only local interaction. First of all, a continuous distributed finite‐time observer is proposed for each follower to estimate the leader's states in a finite time. Then, a continuous distributed cooperative finite‐time tracking control law is designed for each mobile robot. Rigorous proof shows that the group of mobile robots converge to the desired geometric formation pattern in finite time. At the same time, all the robots can track the desired formation trajectory in finite time. Simulation example illustrates the effectiveness of our method. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Trajectory‐keeping in satellite formation flying via robust periodic learning control

This paper proposes an iterative learning control (ILC) scheme to ensure trajectory‐keeping in satellite formation flying. Since satellites rotate the earth periodically, position‐dependent disturbances can be considered time‐periodic disturbances. This observation motivates the idea of repetitively compensating for external disturbances such as solar radiation, magnetic field, air drag, and gravity forces in an iterative, orbit‐to‐orbit manner. It is shown that robust ILC can be effectively utilized for satellite trajectory tracking, thus enabling time‐variant formation flying between the leader‐ and follower‐satellites. The validity of the results is illustrated through computational simulations. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Robust adaptive finite‐time parameter estimation and control for robotic systems

This paper studies adaptive parameter estimation and control for nonlinear robotic systems based on parameter estimation errors. A framework to obtain an expression of the parameter estimation error is proposed first by introducing a set of auxiliary filtered variables. Then three novel adaptive laws driven by the estimation error are presented, where exponential error convergence is proved under the conventional persistent excitation (PE) condition; the direct measurement of the time derivatives of the system states are avoided. The adaptive laws are modified via a sliding mode technique to achieve finite‐time convergence, and an online verification of the alternative PE condition is introduced. Leakage terms, functions of the estimation error, are incorporated into the adaptation laws to avoid windup of the adaptation algorithms. The adaptive algorithm applied to robotic systems permits that tracking control and exact parameter estimation are achieved simultaneously in finite time using a terminal sliding mode (TSM) control law. In this case, the PE condition can be replaced with a sufficient richness requirement of the command signals and thus is verifiable a priori. The potential singularity problem encountered in TSM controls is remedied by introducing a two‐phase control procedure. The robustness of the proposed methods against disturbances is investigated. Simulations based on the ‘Bristol‐Elumotion‐Robotic‐Torso II’ (BERT II) are provided to validate the efficacy of the introduced methods. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

OPTIMAL REJECTION WITH ZERO STEADY‐STATE ERROR OF SINUSOIDAL DISTURBANCES FOR TIME‐DELAY SYSTEMS

This paper studies the problem of optimal rejection with zero steady‐state error of sinusoidal disturbances for linear systems with time‐delay. Based on the internal model principle, a disturbance compensator is constructed to counterbalance the external sinusoidal disturbances, so that the original system can be transformed into an augmented system without disturbances. Then, with the introduction of a sensitivity parameter and expanding power series around it, the optimal disturbance rejection problem can be simplified to the problem of solving an infinite sum of a linear optimal control series without time‐delay or disturbance. The optimal control law for disturbance rejection with zero steady‐state error consists of accurate linear state feedback terms and a time‐delay compensating term, which is an infinite sum of an adjoint vector series. In the presented approach, iteration is required only for the time‐delay compensation series. By intercepting a finite sum of the compensation series, we obtain an approximate physically realizable optimal control law that avoids complex calculation. A numerical simulation shows that the algorithm is effective and easy to implement.     

Distributed consensus control for multi‐agent systems using terminal sliding mode and Chebyshev neural networks

This paper investigates the problem of consensus tracking control for second‐order multi‐agent systems in the presence of uncertain dynamics and bounded external disturbances. The communication ?ow among neighbor agents is described by an undirected connected graph. A fast terminal sliding manifold based on lumped state errors that include absolute and relative state errors is proposed, and then a distributed finite‐time consensus tracking controller is developed by using terminal sliding mode and Chebyshev neural networks. In the proposed control scheme, Chebyshev neural networks are used as universal approximators to learn unknown nonlinear functions in the agent dynamics online, and a robust control term using the hyperbolic tangent function is applied to counteract neural‐network approximation errors and external disturbances, which makes the proposed controller be continuous and hence chattering‐free. Meanwhile, a smooth projection algorithm is employed to guarantee that estimated parameters remain within some known bounded sets. Furthermore, the proposed control scheme for each agent only employs the information of its neighbor agents and guarantees a group of agents to track a time‐varying reference trajectory even when the reference signals are available to only a subset of the group members. Most importantly, finite‐time stability in both the reaching phase and the sliding phase is guaranteed by a Lyapunov‐based approach. Finally, numerical simulations are presented to demonstrate the performance of the proposed controller and show that the proposed controller exceeds to a linear hyperplane‐based sliding mode controller. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Distributed event‐triggered fixed‐time consensus for leader‐follower multiagent systems with nonlinear dynamics and uncertain disturbances

This paper focuses on the distributed event‐triggered fixed‐time consensus control problem of leader‐follower multiagent systems with nonlinear dynamics and uncertain disturbances. Two distributed fixed‐time consensus protocols are proposed based on distributed event‐triggered strategies, which can substantially reduce energy consumption and the frequency of the controller updates. It is proved that under the proposed distributed event‐triggered consensus tracking control strategies, the Zeno behavior is avoided. Compared with the finite‐time consensus tracking, the fixed‐time consensus tracking can be achieved within a settling time regardless of the initial conditions. Finally, 2 examples are performed to validate the effectiveness of the distributed event‐triggered fixed‐time consensus tracking controllers.     

Nonlinear control of three‐dimensional underactuated vehicles

This paper presents the derivation of robust trajectory‐tracking nonlinear control laws for general three‐dimensional vehicle models with one degree of underactuation where all of the state tracking errors are stabilized. The method is based on a novel transformation of the trajectory tracking problem into a reduced‐order error dynamics. Two traditional nonlinear controllers based on sliding mode and backstepping approaches are developed and shown to stabilize the trajectory tracking errors in presence of modeling uncertainties and bounded disturbances. The performance of the two controllers are compared in absence and presence of disturbances.     

Observer‐based finite‐time stabilization for extended Markov jump systems

In this paper, we study the problem of observer‐based finite‐time stabilization for a class of extended Markov jump systems with norm‐bounded uncertainties and external disturbances. The stochastic character under consideration is governed by a finite‐state Markov process, but with only partial information on the transition jump rates. Based on the finite‐time stability analysis, sufficient conditions for the existence of the observer‐based controller are derived via a linear matrix inequality approach such that the closed‐loop system trajectory stays within a prescribed bound in a fixed time interval. When these conditions are satisfied, the designed observer‐based controller gain matrices can be obtained by solving a convex optimization problem. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the approaches proposed in this paper. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd and Chinese Automatic Control Society     

Distributed fault‐tolerant control design for spacecraft finite‐time attitude synchronization

This paper develops two distributed finite‐time fault‐tolerant control algorithms for attitude synchronization of multiple spacecraft with a dynamic virtual leader in the presence of modeling uncertainties, external disturbances, and actuator faults. The leader gives commands only to a subset of the followers, and the communication flow between followers is directed. By employing a novel distributed nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode and adaptive mechanism, a distributed finite‐time fault‐tolerant control law is proposed to guarantee all the follower spacecraft that finite‐time track a dynamic virtual leader. Then utilizing three distributed finite‐time sliding mode estimators, an estimator‐based distributed finite‐time fault‐tolerant control law is proposed using only the followers' estimates of the virtual leader. Both of them do not require online identification of the actuator faults and provide robustness, finite‐time convergence, fault‐tolerant, disturbance rejection, and high control precision. Finally, numerical simulations are presented to evaluate the theoretical results. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Continuous output‐feedback finite‐time control for a class of second‐order nonlinear systems with disturbances

In this paper, a solution to the continuous output‐feedback finite‐time control problem is proposed for a class of second‐order MIMO nonlinear systems with disturbances. First, a continuous finite‐time controller is designed to stabilize system states at equilibrium points in finite time, which is proven correct by a constructive Lyapunov function. Next, because only the measured output is available for feedback, a continuous nonlinear observer is presented to reconstruct the total states in finite time and estimate the unknown disturbances. Then, a continuous output‐feedback finite‐time controller is proposed to track the desired trajectory accurately or alternatively converge to an arbitrarily small region in finite time. Finally, proposed methods are applied to robotic manipulators, and simulations are given to illustrate the applicability of the proposed control approach. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Practical time‐varying formation tracking for high‐order nonlinear multiagent systems with multiple leaders based on the distributed disturbance observer

Practical time‐varying formation tracking analysis and design problems for high‐order nonlinear multiagent systems with directed interaction topologies are investigated by using the distributed disturbance observer, where the time‐varying formation tracking error can be controlled within an arbitrarily small bound. Different from the previous work, there exists a predefined time‐varying formation formed by the states of the followers and the formation tracks the convex combination of the states of the leaders with unknown control inputs. Besides, the leaders can be multiple, and the dynamics of each follower has heterogeneous nonlinearity and disturbance. First, a distributed disturbance observer‐based practical time‐varying formation tracking protocol is constructed using neighboring relative information, where only a part of the followers, which are named as well‐informed ones, are required to obtain the information of the multiple leaders. The proposed protocol can process the heterogeneous nonlinearity, the disturbance of each follower, and the unknown control inputs of the leaders simultaneously. Then, an algorithm with 2 steps is presented to design the practical time‐varying formation tracking protocol by solving an algebraic Riccati equation and an algebraic equation, where the time‐varying formation tracking feasibility condition is introduced. Moreover, the stability of the closed‐loop multiagent system under the proposed protocol is proved by using the properties of the Laplacian matrix and the Lyapunov stability theory. Finally, a numerical simulation example is provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the obtained theoretical results.