Delay-range-dependent control synthesis for time-delay systems with actuator saturation

The control synthesis problem for a class of linear time-delay systems with actuator saturation is investigated in this paper. The time delay is considered to be time-varying and has lower and upper bounds. A delay-range-dependent approach is adopted and the corresponding existence conditions of the stabilizing state-feedback controller are derived in terms of LMIs. An estimate for the domain of attraction of the origin can be obtained for the underlying systems with different time-delay ranges. Two numerical examples are presented to show the effectiveness and less conservatism of the developed theoretical results.     

Feedback stabilization for high order feedforward nonlinear time-delay systems

This paper investigates the problem of global strong stabilization by state feedback, for a family of high order feedforward nonlinear time-delay systems. The uncertain nonlinearities are assumed to satisfy a polynomial growth assumption with an input or delayed input dependent rate. With the help of the appropriate Lyapunov–Krasovskii functionals, and a rescaling transformation with a gain to be tuned online by a dynamic equation, we propose a dynamic low gain state feedback control scheme. A simulation example is given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed design procedure.     

A Tractable Class of Maximal Hedging Policies in Multi-Part Manufacturing Systems

The flow control problem in multi-part failure prone manufacturing systems is considered. While computationnaly attractive, the near optimal controllers of Caramanis and Sharifnia, suffer from the drawback that the production capacity set must be approximated via a very restricted set of inscribed hypercubes, namely those for which a componentwise feasibility requirement is satisfied. Also, due to the completely decoupled nature of production along each component, utilization of the restricted capacity set is suboptimal. A class of capacity set incribed hypercube policies called simple maximal hedging (SMH) policies is introduced. In SMH policies production levels along the various components of the capacity set are coupled, the componentwise feasibility requirement is lifted, and there is no underutilization of production capacity if needed. In a p part types manufacturing system, for partwise additive cost functionals, it is shown that performance evaluation of a given SMH policy reduces to the analysis of p decoupled (fictitious) semi-Markovian machines. The machines are Markovianized via first passage-time analysis and a Padé approximants technique. Numerical optimization over the class of SMH policies in a sample manufacturing system indicates that their performance can come close to that of the optimal control.     

Robust LQ Regulator for Jump Linear Systems with Uncertain Parameters

This paper deals with the robustness stabilizability of the class of linear systems with Markovian jumping parameters and unknown but bounded uncertainties. Under the assumption of the complete access to the system's states and its modes, we establish the robust stabilizability result under norm bounded uncertainties and also under structured uncertainties. We give the conditions under which the class of uncertain linear systems with jumping parameters will remain stable.     

Exponential H∞ filtering for uncertain discrete‐time switched linear systems with average dwell time: A µ‐dependent approach

In this paper, the problem of exponential H_∞ filter problem for a class of discrete‐time polytopic uncertain switched linear systems with average dwell time switching is investigated. The exponential stability result of the general discrete‐time switched systems using a discontinuous piecewise Lyapunov function approach is first explored. Then, a new µ‐dependent approach is proposed, which means the analysis or synthesis of the underlying systems is dependent on the increase degree µ of the piecewise Lyapunov function at the switching instants. A mode‐dependent full‐order filter is designed such that the developed filter error system is robustly exponentially stable and achieves an exponential H_∞ performance. Sufficient existence conditions for the desired filter are derived and formulated in terms of a set of linear matrix inequalities, and consequently the minimal average dwell time and the corresponding filter are obtained from such conditions for a given system decay degree. A numerical example is presented to demonstrate the potential and effectiveness of the developed theoretical results. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simultaneous ℋ︁2/ℋ︁∞ control of uncertain jump systems with functional time‐delays

This paper presents new results pertaining to the control design of a class of linear uncertain systems with Markovian jump parameters. An integral part of the system dynamics is a delayed state in which the time‐delays are mode dependent. The jumping parameters are modelled as a continuous‐time, discrete‐state Markov process and the uncertainties are norm‐bounded. We construct an appropriate Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional and design a simultaneous ℋ︁₂/ℋ︁_∞ controller which minimizes a quadratic ℋ︁₂ performance measure while satisfying a prescribed ℋ︁_∞‐norm bound on the closed‐loop system. It is established that sufficient conditions for the existence of the simultaneous ℋ︁₂/ℋ︁_∞ controller and the associated performance upper bound are cast in the form of linear matrix inequalities. Simulation results are provided and extension to the case where the jumping rates are subject to uncertainties is presented. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Control policy simulation based on machine age in a failure prone one-machine,one-product manufacturing system

This paper deals with the production planning problem of a flexible manufacturing system (FMS). This problem is within the class of problems which are usually faced during the life cycle of FMS. There are basically two approaches used to solve this problem: analytical and simulation. The objective of this paper is to develop a methodology for determine the control policy for a given FMS by using the combination of both analytical and simulation approaches. The production rate control of a one-machine one-product system is presented to illustrate our approach. The contribution of the analytical part of the proposed model consists of generating a near-optimal controller based on the concept of an age-dependent hedging point policy. This sub-optimal policy is used as input of the simulation part and the improvement of operating conditions (control policies) achieved with a constant demand rate. The proposed model includes also a stochastic demand and lot sizes in production which consists of similar products batches with bulk arrivals. The robustness of the controller against both demand rates and production types has been validated.     

Robust production and maintenance planning in stochasticmanufacturing systems

In this paper the authors consider a preventive maintenance and production model of a flexible manufacturing system with machines that are subject to breakdown and repair. The preventive maintenance can be used to reduce the machine failure rates and improve the productivity of the system. The control variables are the rate of maintenance and the rate of production; the objective is to choose a control process that optimizes a robust cost of inventory/shortage, production, and maintenance. The value function is shown to be locally Lipschitz and to satisfy a Hamilton-Jacobi-Isaacs equation. A sufficient condition for optimal control is obtained. Finally, an algorithm is given for solving the optimal control problem numerically