Output feedback sliding mode control for a linear multi-compartment lung mechanics system

In this paper, we develop a sliding mode control architecture to control lung volume and minute ventilation in the presence of modelling system uncertainties. Since the applied input pressure to the lungs is, in general, nonnegative and cannot be arbitrarily large, as not to damage the lungs, a sliding mode control with bounded nonnegative control inputs is proposed. The controller only uses output information (i.e., the total volume of the lungs) and automatically adjusts the applied input pressure so that the system is able to track a given reference signal in the presence of parameter uncertainty (i.e., modelling uncertainty of the lung resistances and lung compliances) and system disturbances. Controllers for both matched and unmatched uncertainties are presented. Specifically, a Lyapunov-based approach is presented for the stability analysis of the system and the proposed control framework is applied to a two-compartment lung model to show the efficacy of the proposed control method.