Event‐triggered output synchronization of heterogeneous multi‐agent systems

This paper proposes a control architecture that employs event‐triggered control techniques to achieve output synchronization of a group of heterogeneous linear time‐invariant agents. We associate with each agent an event‐triggered output regulation controller and an event‐triggered reference generator. The event‐triggered output regulation controller is designed such that the regulated output of the agent approximately tracks a reference signal provided by the reference generator in the presence of unknown disturbances. The event‐triggered reference generator is responsible for synchronizing its internal state across all agents by exchanging information through a communication network linking the agents. We first address the output regulation problem for a single agent where we analyze two event‐triggered scenarios. In the first one, the output and input event detectors operate synchronously, meaning that resets are made at the same time instants, while in the second one, they operate asynchronously and independently of each other. It is shown that the tracking error is globally bounded for all bounded reference trajectories and all bounded disturbances. We then merge the results on event‐triggered output regulation with previous results on event‐triggered communication protocols for synchronization of the reference generators to demonstrate that the regulated output of each agent converges to and remains in a neighborhood of the desired reference trajectory and that the closed‐loop system does not exhibit Zeno solutions. Several examples are provided to illustrate the advantages and issues of every component of the proposed control architecture. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Robust practical output regulation for a class of uncertain linear minimum‐phase systems by output‐based event‐triggered control

In this paper, we consider the robust practical output regulation problem for a class of SISO uncertain linear minimum‐phase systems subject to external disturbances by an output‐based event‐triggered control law, where the reference inputs and the external disturbances are both generated by a so‐called exosystem with known dynamics. Our approach consists of two steps. First, on the basis of the internal model principle, we convert the problem into the robust practical stabilization problem of a well‐defined augmented system. Second, we design an output‐based event‐triggered mechanism and an output‐based event‐triggered control law to solve the stabilization problem, which in turn leads to the solvability of the original problem. What is more, we show that the event‐triggered mechanism prevents the Zeno behavior from happening. A numerical example is given to illustrate the design. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fast terminal sliding‐mode finite‐time tracking control with differential evolution optimization algorithm using integral chain differentiator in uncertain nonlinear systems

This paper presents a fast terminal sliding‐mode tracking control for a class of uncertain nonlinear systems with unknown parameters and system states combined with time‐varying disturbances. Fast terminal sliding‐mode finite‐time tracking systems based on differential evolution algorithms incorporate an integral chain differentiator (ICD) to feedback systems for the estimation of the unknown system states. The differential evolution optimization algorithm using ICD is also applied to a tracking controller, which provides unknown parametric estimation in the limitation of unknown system states for trajectory tracking. The ICD in the tracking systems strengthens the tracking controller robustness for the disturbances by filtering noises. As a powerful finite‐time control effort, the fast terminal sliding‐mode tracking control guarantees that all tracking errors rapidly converge to the origin. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is verified via simulations, and the results exhibit high‐precision output tracking performance in uncertain nonlinear systems.     

Observer‐based output feedback control of discrete‐time Luré systems with sector‐bounded slope‐restricted nonlinearities

Many well studied classes of dynamical systems such as actuator‐constrained linear systems and dynamic artificial neural networks can be written as discrete‐time Luré systems with sector‐bounded and/or slope‐restricted nonlinearities. Two types of observer‐based output feedback control design methods are presented, compared, and analyzed with regard to robustness to model uncertainties and insensitivity to output disturbances. The controller designs are formulated in terms of LMIs that are solvable with standard software. The design equations are illustrated in numerical examples. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Additive‐state‐decomposition‐based tracking control framework for a class of nonminimum phase systems with measurable nonlinearities and unknown disturbances

This paper aims to propose an additive‐state‐decomposition‐based tracking control framework, based on which the output feedback tracking problem is solved for a class of nonminimum phase systems with measurable nonlinearities and unknown disturbances. This framework is to ‘additively’ decompose the output feedback tracking problem into two more tractable problems, namely an output feedback tracking problem for a linear time invariant system and a state feedback stabilization problem for a nonlinear system. Then, one can design a controller for each problem respectively using existing methods, and these two designed controllers are combined together to achieve the original control goal. The main contribution of the paper lies on the introduction of an additive state decomposition scheme and its implementation to mitigate the design difficulty of the output feedback tracking control problem for nonminimum phase nonlinear systems. To demonstrate the effectiveness, an illustrative example is given. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Composite stratified anti‐disturbance control for a class of MIMO discrete‐time systems with nonlinearity

Anti‐disturbance control and estimation problem are investigated for nonlinear system subject to multi‐source disturbances. The disturbances classified model is proposed based on the error and noise analysis of priori knowledge. The disturbance observers are constructed separately from the controller design to estimate the disturbance with partial known information. By integrating disturbance‐observer‐based control with discrete‐time sliding‐mode control (DSMC), a novel type of composite stratified anti‐disturbance control scheme is presented for a class of multiple‐input–multiple‐output discrete‐time systems with known and unknown nonlinear dynamics, respectively. Simulations for a flight control system are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the results compared with the previous schemes. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Almost output synchronization for heterogeneous time‐varying networks for a class of non‐introspective,nonlinear agents without exchange of controller states

We consider almost output synchronization for directed heterogeneous time‐varying networks where agents are non‐introspective (i.e., agents have no access to their own states or outputs) in the presence of external disturbances. The nonlinear agents have a triangular structure and are globally Lipschitz continuous. The network can be time‐varying with network switches occurring at arbitrary moments. A purely decentralized time‐invariant protocol based on a low‐gain and high‐gain method is designed for each agent to achieve almost output synchronization while reducing the impact of disturbances on the output synchronization error. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Tracking Performance Achievement for Continuous‐Time Delayed Linear Systems Subject to Actuator Saturation and output Disturbances

Controlling continuous‐time input‐delayed nonminimum‐phase linear systems is addressed in the presence of actuator saturation and output‐disturbances. Focusing on output‐reference tracking, the control design is dealt with in the pseudo‐polynomials ring. A quite appealing L₂ ‐tracking performance is shown to be achievable in the presence of arbitrary inputs i.e. the output reference and the output disturbance. The performance is formulated in terms of a well defined output‐reference mismatch error (ORME), depending on the inputs’ rate and their compatibility with the actuator saturation constraint.     

Stabilization of strict‐feedback nonlinear systems with input delay using closed‐loop predictors

In this paper, we consider the control problem of strict‐feedback nonlinear systems with time‐varying input and output delays. The approach is based on the usual observer/predictor/feedback approach, but the novelty is the use of the closed‐loop dynamics in the predictor. This approach allows to develop two designs, an instantaneous predictor and a delay differential equation‐based predictor, that both attain the same performance in terms of system trajectories and input signal as in the case with no delays. The design based on delay differential equations allows to build a cascade of predictors to deal with arbitrarily large delay bounds. The resulting controller is much simpler to implement than classical infinite‐dimensional predictors, and it is robust with respect to actuation and measurement disturbances. We illustrate the approach with an application to the control of a chaotic system with input delay. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Model‐free adaptive formation control for unknown multiinput‐multioutput nonlinear heterogeneous discrete‐time multiagent systems with bounded disturbance

Based on the model‐free adaptive control, the distributed formation control problem is investigated for a class of unknown heterogeneous nonlinear discrete‐time multiagent systems with bounded disturbance. Two equivalent data models to the unknown multiagent systems are established through the dynamic linearization technique considering the circumstances with measurable and unmeasurable disturbances. Based on the obtained data models, two distributed controllers are designed with only using the input/output and disturbance data of the neighbor agents system. The tracking error of the closed‐loop system driven by the proposed controllers is shown to be bounded by the contraction mapping principle and inductive methods. An example illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed two distributed controllers.     

Semi‐global output consensus of a group of linear systems in the presence of external disturbances and actuator saturation: An output regulation approach

This paper studies the problem of semi‐global leader‐following output consensus of a multi‐agent system. The output of each follower agent in the system, described by a same general linear system subject to external disturbances and actuator saturation, is to track the output of the leader, described by a linear system, which also generates disturbances as the exosystem does in the classical output regulation problem. Conditions on the agent dynamics are identified, under which a low‐gain feedback‐based linear state‐control algorithm is constructed for each follower agent such that the output consensus is achieved when the communication topology among the agents is a digraph containing no loop, and the leader is reachable from any follower agent. We also extend the results to the non‐identical disturbance case. In this case, conditions based on both the agent dynamics and the communication topology are identified, under which a low‐gain feedback‐based linear state‐control algorithm is constructed for each follower agent such that the leader‐following output consensus is achieved when the communication topology among the follower agents is a strongly connected and detailed balanced digraph, and the leader is a neighbor of at least one follower. In addition, under some further conditions on the agent dynamics, the control algorithm is adapted so as to achieve semi‐global leader‐following output consensus for a jointly connected undirected graph and the leader reachable from at least one follower. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Robust finite‐time consensus formation control for multiple nonholonomic wheeled mobile robots via output feedback

The finite‐time formation control for multiple nonholonomic wheeled mobile robots with a leader‐following structure is studied. Different from the existing results, the considered mobile robot has the following features: (i) a higher‐order dynamic model, (ii) the robot's velocities cannot be measured, and (iii) there are external disturbances. To solve the problem, a finite‐time consensus formation control algorithm via output feedback is explicitly given. At the first step, some finite‐time convergent observers are skillfully constructed to estimate both the unknown velocity information and the disturbance in finite time by imposing certain assumptions on the disturbances. Then, on the basis of the integral sliding‐mode control method, a disturbance observer‐based finite‐time output feedback controller is developed. Rigorous proof shows that the finite‐time formation can be achieved in finite time. An example is finally given to verify the efficiency of the proposed method.     

Iterative learning control design with high‐order internal model for discrete‐time nonlinear systems

In this paper, a high‐order internal model (HOIM)‐based iterative learning control (ILC) scheme is proposed for discrete‐time nonlinear systems to tackle the tracking problem under iteration‐varying desired trajectories. By incorporating the HOIM that is utilized to describe the variation of desired trajectories in the iteration domain into the ILC design, it is shown that the system output can converge to the desired trajectory along the iteration axis within arbitrarily small error. Furthermore, the learning property in the presence of state disturbances and output noise is discussed under HOIM‐based ILC with an integrator in the iteration axis. Two simulation examples are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control method. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Robust control approach for input–output linearizable nonlinear systems using high‐gain disturbance observer

This paper addresses a robust control approach for a class of input–output linearizable nonlinear systems with uncertainties and modeling errors considered as unknown inputs. As known, the exact feedback linearization method can be applied to control input–output linearizable nonlinear systems, if all the states are available and modeling errors are negligible. The mentioned two prerequisites denote important problems in the field of classical nonlinear control. The solution approach developed in this contribution is using disturbance rejection by applying feedback of the uncertainties and modeling errors estimated by a specific high‐gain disturbance observer as unknown inputs. At the same time, the nonmeasured states can be calculated from the estimation of the transformed system states. The feasibility and conditions for the application of the approach on mechanical systems are discussed. A nonlinear multi‐input multi‐output mechanical system is taken as a simulation example to illustrate the application. The results show the robustness of the control design and plausible estimations of full‐rank disturbances.Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Passivity‐based sliding mode controller/observer for second‐order nonlinear systems

A passivity‐based sliding mode control for a class of second‐order nonlinear systems with matched disturbances is proposed in this paper. Firstly, a nonlinear sliding surface is designed using feedback passification, in which the passivity is employed to guarantee the closed‐loop system's stability. The passivity‐based controller comprising a discontinuous term guarantees globally asymptotical convergence to the sliding surface. A sliding mode‐based control law that satisfies the reaching and sliding condition is also developed. Moreover, the passivity‐based sliding mode observer is also developed to effectively estimate the system states. Compared with conventional sliding mode control, the proposed control scheme has a shorter reaching time; and hence, the system performance is less affected by disturbances, thus eliminating the need to increase the control input gain. Finally, simulation results demonstrate the validity of the proposed method.     

Output Consensus of Heterogeneous Linear Multi‐agent Systems Subject to Different Disturbances

This paper investigates the output consensus problem of heterogeneous linear multi‐agent systems with individual agents subject to different disturbances. A distributed control law based on internal reference models and dynamic output feedback is presented for output consensus. It is shown that the embedded internal reference models of agents can achieve consensus to a common trajectory which is determined by the underlying system topology and the initial states of the internal reference models. Then a necessary and sufficient condition is presented for output consensus of heterogeneous linear multi‐agent systems. Finally, a numerical example is provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control laws.     

SECOND‐ORDER NONSINGULAR TERMINAL SLIDING MODE DECOMPOSED CONTROL OF UNCERTAIN MULTIVARIABLE SYSTEMS

This paper proposes a second‐order nonsingular terminal sliding mode decomposed control method for multivariable linear systems with internal parameter uncertainties and external disturbances. First, the systems are converted into the block controllable form, consisting of an input‐output subsystem and a stable internal dynamic subsystem. A special second‐order non‐singular terminal sliding mode is proposed for the input‐output subsystem. The control law is designed to drive the states of the input‐output subsystem to converge to the equilibrium point asymptotically. Then the states of the stable zero‐dynamics of the system converge to the equilibrium point asymptotically. The method proposed in the paper has advantages for higher‐dimensional multivariable systems, in the sense that it simplifies the design and makes it possible to realize a robust decomposed control. Meanwhile, because of the adoption of the second‐order sliding mode, the control signal is continuous. Simulation results are presented to validate the design.     

Fully distributed bipartite output consensus of heterogeneous linear multiagent systems based on event‐triggered transmission mechanism

This study investigates the fully distributed bipartite output consensus issue of heterogeneous linear multiagent systems (HLMASs) based on event‐triggered transmission mechanism. Both the cooperative interaction and the antagonistic interaction between neighbor agents are considered. A fully distributed bipartite compensator consisting of time‐varying coupling gain and dynamic event‐triggered mechanism is first proposed to estimate the leader's states. Different from the existing schemes, the proposed compensator is independent of any global information of the network topology, is capable of achieving intermittent communication between neighbors, and is applicable for the signed communication topology. Then the distributed output feedback control protocol is developed such that the fully distributed bipartite event‐triggered output consensus problem can be achieved. Moreover, we extend the results in HLMASs without external disturbances to HLMASs with disturbances, which is more challenging in three cases (a) the disturbances are not available for measurement, (b) the disturbances suffered by each agent are heterogeneous, and (c) the disturbances are not required to be stable or bounded. It is proven that the proposed controllers fulfill the exclusion of Zeno behavior in two consensus problems. Finally, two examples are provided to illustrate the feasibility of the theoretical results.     

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.     

Peaking free output‐feedback exact tracking of uncertain nonlinear systems via dwell‐time and norm observers

The control of uncertain nonlinear systems by high‐gain observer based output feedback is addressed. Two tracking sliding mode controllers are designed for a broad class of uncertain nonlinear systems with arbitrary relative degree and unmatched polynomial nonlinearities in the unmeasured states. The proposed strategies are based either on dwell‐time for control activation or on simple norm state observers to remove the peaking phenomenon related with high‐gain observers, depending on the nonlinearity growth conditions. In contrast with previous works, exact tracking is also achieved by means of a switching strategy based on locally exact differentiators. Global or semi‐global stability is proved by using Lyapunov theory and on small‐gain analysis. Simulations show that the proposed methodologies provide better and uniform transient behavior, larger regions of attraction, performance recovery with significantly smaller observer gains and good robustness properties with respect to exogenous disturbances and measurement noise. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.