Model‐assisted extended state observer and dynamic surface control–based trajectory tracking for quadrotors via output‐feedback mechanism

In this paper, an output‐feedback trajectory tracking controller for quadrotors is presented by integrating a model‐assisted extended state observer (ESO) with dynamic surface control. The quadrotor dynamics are described by translational and rotational loops with lumped disturbances to promote the hierarchical control design. Then, by exploiting the structural property of the quadrotor, a model information–assisted high‐order ESO that relies only on position measurements is designed to estimate not only the unmeasurable states but also the lumped disturbances in the rotational loop. In addition, to account for the problem of “explosion of complexity” inherent in hierarchical control, the output feedback–based trajectory tracking and attitude stabilization laws are respectively synthesized by utilizing dynamic surface control and the corresponding estimated signals provided by the ESO. The stability analysis is given, showing that the output‐feedback trajectory tracking controller can ensure the ultimate boundedness of all signals in the closed‐loop system and make the tracking errors arbitrarily small. Finally, flight simulations with respect to an 8‐shaped trajectory command are performed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed scheme in obtaining the stable and accurate trajectory tracking using position measurements only.     

Distributed finite‐time tracking of multiple Euler–Lagrange systems without velocity measurements

This paper investigates the distributed finite‐time tracking problem of networked agents with multiple Euler–Lagrange dynamics. To achieve finite‐time tracking, a distributed finite‐time protocol is first proposed on the basis of both relative position and relative velocity measurements. By using tools from homogeneous theory, it is theoretically shown that the proposed protocol can guarantee finite‐time tracking in the presence of control input constraints. On the basis of the state feedback analysis and with the aid of second‐order sliding‐mode observer approach, a new class of finite‐time tracking protocols based only on the relative position measurements is developed and employed. It is proved that the multiple agents equipped with the designed protocols can track the target location in finite time. Furthermore, a decentralized finite‐time protocol based on a distributed estimator is proposed to solve the finite‐time tracking problems with a dynamic leader. The effectiveness of the theoretical results is finally illustrated by numerical simulations. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Adaptive disturbance observer‐based finite‐time continuous fault‐tolerant control for reentry RLV

The control effectors of reusable launch vehicle (RLV) can produce significant perturbations and faults in reentry phase. Such a challenge imposes tight requirements to enhance the robustness of vehicle autopilot. Focusing on this problem, a novel finite‐time fault‐tolerant control strategy is proposed for reentry RLV in this paper. The key of this strategy is to design an adaptive‐gain multivariable finite‐time disturbance observer (FDO) to estimate the synthetical perturbation with unknown bounds, which is composed of model uncertainty, external disturbance, and actuator fault considered as the partial loss of actuator effectiveness in this work. Then, combined with the finite‐time high‐order observer and differentiator, a continuous homogeneous second‐order sliding mode controller based on the terminal sliding mode and super‐twisting algorithm is designed to achieve a fast and accurate RLV attitude tracking with chattering attenuation. The main features of the integrated control strategy are that the adaptation algorithm of FDO can achieve non‐overestimating values of the observer gains and the second‐order super‐twisting sliding mode approach can obtain a more elegant solution in finite time. Finally, simulation results of classical RLV (X‐33) are provided to verify the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed fault‐tolerant controller in tracking the guidance commands. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Performance analysis of 2‐DOF tracking control for a class of nonlinear uncertain systems with discontinuous disturbances

In this paper, the tracking control problem is considered for a class of uncertain nonlinear systems with infinite discontinuous points in the external disturbance. The extended state observer–based 2‐degree‐of‐freedom control is used with one degree to estimate and cancel the “total disturbance” and the other to force the closed‐loop system to have desired characteristics. The tracking error between the state vector and its ideal trajectory in the entire transient process is adequately discussed to illuminate the performance of resulting control systems. The quantitative analysis shows that the tracking error can be small enough by tuning the bandwidth of the extended state observer. Moreover, the necessary and sufficient condition for the tracking error and the estimation error of the “total disturbance” to converge to zero is presented. The simulation results of a motion test demonstrate that the desired performance of the control system can be achieved despite discontinuous disturbance and nonlinear uncertainties.     

Output‐feedback tracking in causal nonminimum‐phase nonlinear systems using higher‐order sliding modes

Asymptotic output‐feedback tracking in a class of causal nonminimum phase uncertain nonlinear systems is addressed via sliding mode techniques. Sliding mode control is proposed for robust stabilization of the output tracking error in the presence of a bounded disturbance. The output reference profile and the unknown input/disturbance are supposed to be described by unknown linear exogenous systems of a given order. Local asymptotic stability of the output tracking error dynamics along with the boundedness of the internal states are proven. The unstable internal states are estimated asymptotically via the proposed multistage observer that is based on the method of extended system center. A higher‐order sliding mode observer/differentiator is used for the exact estimation of the input–output states in a finite time. The bounded disturbance is reconstructed asymptotically. A numerical example illustrates the efficiency of the proposed output‐feedback tracking approach developed for causal nonminimum phase nonlinear systems. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Prescribed performance adaptive neural output control for a class of switched nonstrict‐feedback nonlinear time‐delay systems: State‐dependent switching law approach

This paper investigates the tracking problem for a class of uncertain switched nonlinear delayed systems with nonstrict‐feedback form. To address this problem, by introducing a new common Lyapunov function (CLF), an adaptive neural network dynamic surface control is proposed. The state‐dependent switching rule is designed to orchestrate which subsystem is active at each time instance. In order to compensate unknown delay terms, an appropriate Lyapunov‐Krasovskii functional is considered in the constructing of the CLF. In addition, a novel switched neural network–based observer is constructed to estimate system states through the output signal. To maintain the tracking error performance within a predefined bound, a prescribed performance bound approach is employed. It is proved that by the proposed output‐feedback control, all the signals of the closed‐loop system are bounded under the switching law. Moreover, the transient and steady‐state tracking performance is guaranteed by the prescribed performance bound. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is illustrated by two numerical and practical examples.     

Torque tracking control of electric load simulator with active motion disturbance and nonlinearity based on T‐S fuzzy model

This paper develops a high performance nonlinear control method for an electric load simulator (ELS). The tracking performance of the ELS is mainly affected by the actuator's active motion disturbance and friction nonlinearity. First, a nonlinear model of ELS is developed, and then the Takagi‐Sugeno fuzzy model is used to represent the friction nonlinearity ofthe ELS. A state observer is constructed to estimate the speed of the load system. For converting the tracking control into a stabilization problem, a new control design called virtual desired state synthesis is proposed to define the internal desired states. External disturbances are attenuated based on an H_∞ criterion and the stability of the entire closed‐loop model is investigated using the well‐known quadratic Lyapunov function. Meanwhile, the feedback gains and the observer gains are obtained separately by solving a set of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). Both a simulation and experiment were performed to validate the effectiveness of the developed algorithm.     

Output Feedback Adaptive Neural Control Without Seeking SPR Condition

For output‐feedback adaptive control of affine nonlinear systems based on feedback linearization and function approximation, the observation error dynamics usually should be augmented by a low‐pass filter to satisfy a strictly positive real (SPR) condition so that output feedback can be realized. Yet, this manipulation results in filtering basis functions of approximators, which makes the order of the controller dynamics very large. This paper presents a novel output‐feedback adaptive neural control (ANC) scheme to avoid seeking the SPR condition. A saturated output‐feedback control law is introduced based on a state‐feedback indirect ANC structure. An adaptive neural network (NN) observer is applied to estimate immeasurable system state variables. The output estimation error rather than the basis functions is filtered and the filter output is employed to update NNs. Under given initial conditions and sufficient control parameter constraints, it is proved that the closed‐loop system is uniformly ultimately bounded stable in the sense that both the state estimation errors and the tracking errors converge to small neighborhoods of zero. An illustrative example is provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach.     

Reduced‐order observer‐based output‐feedback tracking control of nonlinear systems with state delay and disturbance

In this paper, we investigate the problem of output‐feedback tracking control for a class of nonlinear SISO systems in the strick‐feedback form, which are subject to both uncertain delay‐related functions and disturbances. A reduced‐order observer is first introduced to provide the estimates of the unmeasured states. Then, an output‐feedback controller is recursively designed based on the backsteppng method. By constructing an appropriate Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional, we prove that all the signals in the closed‐loop system are bounded. The tracking performance is guaranteed by suitably choosing the design parameters. Finally, a simulation example is provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An ESO-based integrated trajectory tracking control for tractor–trailer vehicles with various constraints and physical limitations

This paper develops an effective integrated control strategy for the trajectory tracking control of a tractor–trailer vehicle which suffers from inaccessible system states and uncertain disturbance for practical implementation. In addition, diverse problems, such as nonholonomic constraints, underactuated dynamics, physical limitations, etc, can be resolved favourably all together. Aiming to the vehicle trajectory tracking, a constrained model predictive control (MPC) is introduced as a trajectory tracking module, by which the underactuated dynamics, various constraints and physical limitations, can be tackled at the same time. For the desired velocity tracking, a robust global terminal sliding mode control (GTSMC) is employed to guarantee the finite-time convergence of the velocity tracking process, which will improve the transient performance to a great extent. Particularly, in the absence of velocity information, an extended state observer (ESO) is developed to estimate the vehicle velocity in addition to simultaneously obtaining the uncertain disturbance information, which offers prerequisite for the previous control approaches. The simulation results confirm that the presented control strategy can synthesise varied control techniques effectively and deal with diverse problems for the trajectory tracking of tractor–trailer vehicles successfully.     

Retrofit fault‐tolerant tracking control design of an unmanned quadrotor helicopter considering actuator dynamics

This paper presents a retrofit fault‐tolerant tracking control (FTTC) design method with application to an unmanned quadrotor helicopter (UQH). The proposed retrofit fault‐tolerant tracking controller is developed to accommodate loss‐of‐effectiveness faults in the actuators of UQH. First, a state feedback tracking controller acting as the normal controller is designed to guarantee the stability and satisfactory performance of UQH in the absence of actuator faults, while actuator dynamics of UQH are also considered in the controller design. Then, a retrofit control mechanism with integration of an adaptive fault estimator and an adaptive fault compensator is devised against the adverse effects of actuator faults. Next, the proposed retrofit FTTC strategy, which is synthesized by the normal controller and an additional reconfigurable fault compensating mechanism, takes over the control of the faulty UQH to asymptotically stabilize the closed‐loop system with an acceptable performance degradation in the presence of actuator faults. Finally, both numerical simulations and practical experiments are conducted in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed FTTC methodology on the asymptotic convergence of tracking error for several combinations of loss‐of‐effectiveness faults in actuators.     

A robust constrained control approach for flexible air‐breathing hypersonic vehicles

This article investigates the robust adaptive control system design for the longitudinal dynamics of a flexible air‐breathing hypersonic vehicle (FAHV) subject to parametric uncertainties and control input constraints. A combination of back‐stepping and nonlinear disturbance observer (NDO) is utilized for exploiting an adaptive output‐feedback controller to provide robust tracking of velocity and altitude reference trajectories in the presence of flexible effects and system uncertainties. The dynamic surface control is introduced to solve the problem of “explosion of terms.” A new NDO is developed to guarantee the proposed controller's disturbance attenuation ability and to performance robustness against uncertain aerodynamic coefficients. To deal with the problem of actuator saturation, a novel auxiliary system is exploited to compensate the desired control laws. The stability of the presented NDO and controller is analyzed. Simulation results are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the presented control strategy.     

Stabilization and Tracking Control of X‐Z Inverted Pendulum Using Flatness Based Active Disturbance Rejection Control

A flatness based robust active disturbance rejection control technique scheme with tracking differentiator is proposed for the problem of stabilization and tracking control of the X‐Z inverted pendulum known as a special underactuated, non‐feedback linearizable mechanical system. The differential parameterization on the basis of linearizing the system around an arbitrary equilibrium decouples the underactuated system into two lower order systems, resulting in two lower‐order extended state observers. Using a tracking differentiator to arrange the transient process utilizes the problem of stabilization and tracking control and gives a relatively small initial estimation error, which enlarges the range of the controller parameters. The convincing analysis of the proposed modified linear extended state observer is presented to show its high effectiveness on estimating the states and the extended states known as the total disturbances consisting of the unknown external disturbances and the nonlinearities neglected by the linearization. Simulation results on the stabilization and tracking control of the X‐Z inverted pendulum, including a comparative simulation with an all‐state‐feedback sliding mode controller are presented to show the advantages of the combination of flatness and active disturbance rejection control techniques.     

A nonlinear state‐feedback state‐feedforward tracking control strategy for a boiler‐turbine unit

A boiler‐turbine unit is a primary module for coal‐fired power plants, and an effective automatic control system is needed for the boiler‐turbine unit to track the load changes with the drum water level kept within an acceptable range. The aim of this paper is to develop a nonlinear tracking controller for the Bell‐Åström boiler‐turbine unit. A Takagi‐Sugeno fuzzy control system is introduced for the nonlinear modeling of the Bell‐Åström boiler‐turbine unit. Based on the Takagi‐Sugeno fuzzy models, a nonlinear tracking controller is developed, and the proposed control law is comprised of a state‐feedforward term and a state‐feedback term. The stability of the closed‐loop control system is analyzed on the basis of Lyapunov stability theory via the linear matrix inequality approach and Schur complement. Moreover, model uncertainties are also considered, and it is proved that with the proposed control law the tracking error converges to zero. To assess the performance of the proposed nonlinear state‐feedback state‐feedforward control strategy, a nonlinear model predictive control strategy and a linear strategy are presented as comparisons. The effectiveness and the advantages of the proposed nonlinear state‐feedback state‐feedforward control strategy are demonstrated by simulations.     

Active disturbance rejection control for nonlinear fractional‐order systems

This paper investigates active disturbance rejection control involving the fractional‐order tracking differentiator, the fractional‐order PID controller with compensation and the fractional‐order extended state observer for nonlinear fractional‐order systems. Firstly, the fractional‐order optimal‐time control scheme is studied to propose the fractional‐order tracking differentiator by the Hamilton function and fractional‐order optimal conditions. Secondly, the linear fractional‐order extend state observer is offered to acquire the estimated value of the sum of nonlinear functions and disturbances existing in the investigated nonlinear fractional‐order plant. For the disturbance existing in the feedback output, the effect of the disturbance is discussed to choose a reasonable parameter in fractional‐order extended state observer. Thirdly, by this observed value, the nonlinear fractional‐order plant is converted into a linear fractional‐order plant by adding the compensation in the controller. With the aid of real root boundary, complex root boundary, and imaginary boot boundary, the approximate stabilizing boundary with respect to the integral and differential coefficients is determined for the given proportional coefficient, integral order and differential order. By choosing the suitable parameters, the fractional‐order active disturbance rejection control scheme can deal with the unknown nonlinear functions and disturbances. Finally, the illustrative examples are given to verify the effectiveness of fractional‐order active disturbance rejection control scheme. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Disturbance observer–based prescribed adaptive control for rate‐dependent hysteretic systems

In this paper, a disturbance observer–based prescribed adaptive control approach is proposed for ultra‐high‐precision tracking of a class of hysteretic systems with both high‐order matched and mismatched disturbances. Considering the adverse effects of asymmetric and rate‐dependent hysteresis nonlinearities, a polynomial‐based rate‐dependent Prandtl‐Ishlinskii model is first developed to characterize their behaviors, and inverse model based compensation is also constructed. Furthermore, the resulting inverse compensation error is analytically given, and a novel disturbance observer with adaptive control techniques is designed to handle the bounded disturbances, including the inverse compensation error and the high‐order matched and mismatched disturbances. Comparative experiments on a multiaxis nano servo stage are finally conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control architecture, where substantial performance improvement over existing results are achieved on various tracking scenarios.     

A dual‐observer design for global output feedback stabilization of nonlinear systems with low‐order and high‐order nonlinearities

This paper employs a dual‐observer design to solve the problem of global output feedback stabilization for a class of nonlinear systems whose nonlinearities are bounded by both low‐order and high‐order terms. We show that the dual‐observer comprised of two individual homogeneous observers, can be implemented together to estimate low‐order and high‐order states in parallel. The proposed dual observer, together with a state feedback controller, which has both low‐order and high‐order terms, will lead to a new result combining and generalizing two recent results (Li J, Qian C. Proceedings of the 2005 IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2005; 2652–2657) and (Qian C. Proceedings of the 2005 American Control Conference, June 2005; 4708–4715). Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Nonlinear output‐feedback control of torsional vibrations in drilling systems

This paper considers the design of a nonlinear observer‐based output‐feedback controller for oil‐field drill‐string systems aiming to eliminate (torsional) stick–slip oscillations. Such vibrations decrease the performance and reliability of drilling systems and can ultimately lead to system failure. Current industrial controllers regularly fail to eliminate stick–slip vibrations under increasingly challenging operating conditions caused by the tendency towards drilling deeper and inclined wells, where multiple vibrational modes play a role in the occurrence of stick–slip vibrations. As a basis for controller synthesis, a multi‐modal model of the torsional drill‐string dynamics for a real rig is employed, and a bit–rock interaction model with severe velocity‐weakening effect is used. The proposed model‐based controller design methodology consists of a state‐feedback controller and a (nonlinear) observer. Conditions, guaranteeing asymptotic stability of the desired equilibrium, corresponding to nominal drilling operation, are presented. The proposed control strategy has a significant advantage over existing vibration control systems as it can effectively cope with multiple modes of torsional vibration. Case study results using the proposed control strategy show that stick–slip oscillations can indeed be eliminated in realistic drilling scenarios in which industrial controllers fail to do so. Moreover, key robustness aspects of the control system involving the robustness against uncertainties in the bit–rock interaction and changing operational conditions are evidenced. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.