Stabilization by forwarding design for switched feedforward systems with unstable modes

The problem of global stabilization is investigated for a class of switched nonlinear feedforward systems in this paper where the solvability of the stabilization problem for individual subsystem is not assumed. Some sufficient condition for the stabilization problem to be solvable is derived for the first time by exploiting the multiple Lyapunov functions method and the forwarding technique. Also, we design a switching law and construct bounded state feedback controllers of subsystems explicitly by a recursive design algorithm to achieve global asymptotic stability. The provided technique permits removal of a common restriction in which all subsystems in switched nonlinear feedforward systems are globally asymptotically stable. Finally, a numerical example is provided to demonstrate the feasibility of the theoretical result. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.