Robust stabilization of a class of non‐minimum‐phase nonlinear systems in a generalized output feedback canonical form

In this paper, a globally robust stabilizer for a class of uncertain non‐minimum‐phase nonlinear systems in generalized output feedback canonical form is designed. The system contains unknown parameters multiplied by output‐dependent nonlinearities and output‐dependent nonlinearities enter such a system both additively and multiplicatively. The proposed method relies on a recently developed novel parameter estimator and state observer design methodology together with a combination of backstepping and small‐gain approach. Our design has three distinct features. First, the parameter estimator and state observer do not necessarily follow the classical certainty‐equivalent principle any more. Second, the design treats unknown parameters and unmeasured states in a unified way. Third, the technique by combining standard backstepping and small‐gain theorem ensures robustness with respect to dynamic uncertainties. Finally, two numerical examples are given to show that the proposed method is effective, and that it can be applied to more general systems that do not satisfy the cascading upper diagonal dominance conditions developed in recent papers, respectively. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Transients in output feedback adaptive systems with observer‐like reference models

This note presents analysis and quantification of transient dynamics in Model Reference Adaptive Control (MRAC) with output feedback and observer‐like reference models. A practical design methodology for this class of systems was first introduced in 1 , 2 , where an output error feedback was added to the reference model dynamics. Here, this design is complemented with an analysis of the corresponding transients. Specifically, it is shown that employing observer‐like reference models in MRAC leads to a trade‐off between achieving fast transient dynamics and using large error feedback gains in the modified reference model. For clarity sake, only systems with matched uncertainties are analyzed, yet the reported results can be extended to a broader class of uncertainties by utilizing MRAC modifications for robustness 3 , 4 . The note ends with a summary of the derived results and a discussion on practical design guidelines for adaptive output feedback controllers with observer‐like reference models. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Adaptive fuzzy output feedback backstepping control of pure‐feedback nonlinear systems via dynamic surface control technique

In this paper, an adaptive fuzzy backstepping dynamic surface control approach is considered for a class of uncertain pure‐feedback nonlinear systems with immeasurable states. Fuzzy logic systems are first employed to approximate the unknown nonlinear functions, and then an adaptive fuzzy state observer is designed to estimate the immeasurable states. By the combination of the adaptive backstepping design with a dynamic surface control technique, an adaptive fuzzy output feedback backstepping control approach is developed. It is proven that all the signals of the resulting closed‐loop system are semi‐globally uniformly ultimately bounded, and the observer and tracking errors converge to a small neighborhood of the origin by choosing the design parameters appropriately. Simulation examples are provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Adaptive stabilization of uncertain nonlinear time‐delay systems with quantized input and output

This paper investigates the problem of global output feedback stabilization for a class of uncertain nonlinear time‐delay systems with unknown time delay in the states and the input in which both the input and the output are logarithmically quantized. The nonlinear functions of such systems are not completely known and satisfying certain bounded condition depending on the unmeasured states and the input. We construct a new dynamic high‐gain observer where only an output quantization instead of the output is available for measurement to dominate the unknown nonlinear functions view as external disturbances. A scaled change of coordinates and an appropriate Lyapunov‐Krasovskii functional are derived to achieve the global stabilization in the sense that all the states of such systems are defined, bounded in the maximal interval [0, +∞), and converge to the zero equilibrium. A numerical example is provided to illustrate the result.     

Distributed output estimation error observer-based adaptive fault-tolerant consensus tracking control of multi-agent systems

The purpose of this study is to discuss the fully distributed design of output estimation error observer and fault-tolerant consensus tracking control for a class of multi-agent systems with Lipschitz nonlinear dynamics and actuator faults. Firstly, based on the relative output measurements of neighboring agents, the distributed output estimation error observer is developed to adaptively estimate the state and fault information of each agent, and further overcome the difficulties of online updating the adaptive estimations of unknown hyper-parameters. Secondly, to achieve the state consensus tracking goal and compensate for the negative effects of actuator faults, the distributed fault-tolerant consensus tracking control scheme is proposed on the basis of the state estimation and adaptive fault estimation information, and has excellent robustness and consensus tracking control performance. Moreover, sufficient criteria can ensure that consensus tracking error of each agent converges to a small set near the origin. Finally, numerical simulations are provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed fully distributed algorithm.     

Reinforcement learning-based optimized output feedback control of nonlinear strict-feedback systems with event sampled states

This article focuses on the event-triggered optimized output feedback control problem for nonlinear strict-feedback systems. First, a fuzzy state observer is designed to estimate the unmeasurable states. Then, the fuzzy-based reinforcement learning is performed under critic-actor architecture to realize the optimized control. In addition, a novel event-triggered mechanism is developed for the system states to greatly economize communication resources. By means of the Lyapunov stability theory, it can be proved that all signals of the closed-loop system are bounded, and the Zeno behavior can be successfully avoided. Lastly, an inverted pendulum example is provided to confirm the effectiveness of the derived algorithm.     

Adaptive robust output‐feedback motion control of hydraulic actuators

Most previous advanced motion control of hydraulic actuators used full‐state feedback control techniques. However, in many cases, only position feedback is available, and thus, there are imperious demands for output‐feedback control for hydraulic systems. This paper firstly transforms a hydraulic model into an output feedback–dependent form. Thus, the K‐filter can be employed, which provides exponentially convergent estimates of the unmeasured states. Furthermore, this observer has an extended filter structure so that online parameter adaptation can be utilized. In addition, it is a well‐known fact that any realistic model of a hydraulic system suffers from significant extent of uncertain nonlinearities and parametric uncertainties. This paper constructs an adaptive robust controller with backstepping techniques, which is able to take into account not only the effect of parameter variations coming from various hydraulic parameters but also the effect of hard‐to‐model nonlinearities such as uncompensated friction forces, modeling errors, and external disturbances. Moreover, estimation errors that come from initial state estimates and uncompensated disturbances are dealt with via certain robust feedback at each step of the adaptive robust backstepping design. After that, a detailed stability analysis for the output‐feedback closed‐loop system is scrupulously checked, which shows that all states are bounded and that the controller achieves a guaranteed transient performance and final tracking accuracy in general and asymptotic output tracking in the presence of parametric uncertainties only. Extensive experimental results are obtained for a hydraulic actuator system and verify the high‐performance nature of the proposed output‐feedback control strategy.     

Adaptive output feedback dynamic surface control of stochastic nonlinear systems with state and input unmodeled dynamics

In this paper, an adaptive neural output feedback control scheme is investigated for a class of stochastic nonlinear systems with unmeasured states and four kinds of uncertainties including uncertain nonlinear function, dynamic disturbance, input unmodeled dynamics, and stochastic inverse dynamics. The unmeasured states are estimated by K‐filters, and stochastic inverse dynamics is dealt with by constructing a changing supply function. The considered input unmodeled dynamic subsystem possesses nonlinear feature, and a dynamic normalization signal is introduced to counteract the unstable effect produced by the input unmodeled dynamics. Combining dynamic surface control technique with stochastic input‐to‐state stability, small‐gain condition, and Chebyshev's inequality, the designed robust adaptive controller can guarantee that all the signals in the closed‐loop system are bounded in probability, and the error signals are semi‐globally uniformly ultimately bounded in mean square or the sense of four‐moment. Simulation results are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dual high‐gain‐based adaptive output‐feedback control for a class of nonlinear systems

We propose an adaptive output‐feedback controller for a general class of nonlinear triangular (strict‐feedback‐like) systems. The design is based on our recent results on a new high‐gain control design approach utilizing a dual high‐gain observer and controller architecture with a dynamic scaling. The technique provides strong robustness properties and allows the system class to contain unknown functions dependent on all states and involving unknown parameters (with no magnitude bounds required). Unlike our earlier result on this problem where a time‐varying design of the high‐gain scaling parameter was utilized, the technique proposed here achieves an autonomous dynamic controller by introducing a novel design of the observer, the scaling parameter, and the adaptation parameter. This provides a time‐invariant dynamic output‐feedback globally asymptotically stabilizing solution for the benchmark open problem proposed in our earlier work with no magnitude bounds or sign information on the unknown parameter being necessary. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Robust adaptive control for non‐linear systems in generalized output‐feedback canonical form

Design of global robust adaptive output‐feedback dynamic compensators for stabilization and tracking of a class of systems that are globally diffeomorphic into systems in generalized output‐feedback canonical form is investigated. This form includes as special cases the standard output‐feedback canonical form and various other forms considered previously in the literature. Output‐dependent non‐linearities are allowed to enter both additively and multiplicatively. The system is allowed to contain unknown parameters multiplying output‐dependent non‐linearities and, also, unknown non‐linearities satisfying certain bounds. Under the assumption that a constant matrix can be found to achieve a certain property, it is shown that a reduced‐order observer and a backstepping controller can be designed to achieve practical stabilization of the tracking error. If this assumption is not satisfied, it is shown that the control objective can be achieved by introducing additional dynamics in the observer. Sufficient conditions under which asymptotic tracking and stabilization can be achieved are also given. This represents the first robust adaptive output‐feedback tracking results for this class of systems. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Adaptive neural network output feedback stabilization of nonlinear non‐minimum phase systems

This paper presents an adaptive output feedback stabilization method based on neural networks (NNs) for nonlinear non‐minimum phase systems. The proposed controller comprises a linear, a neuro‐adaptive, and an adaptive robustifying parts. The NN is designed to approximate the matched uncertainties of the system. The inputs of the NN are the tapped delays of the system input–output signals. In addition, an appropriate reference signal is proposed to compensate the unmatched uncertainties inherent in the internal system dynamics. The adaptation laws for the NN weights and adaptive gains are obtained using Lyapunov's direct method. These adaptation laws employ a linear observer of system dynamics that is realizable. The ultimate boundedness of the error signals are analytically shown using Lyapunov's method. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme is shown by applying to a translation oscillator rotational actuator model. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Optimal Automatic Generation Control of Asynchronous Power Systems Using Output Feedback Control Strategy with Dynamic Participation of Wind Turbines

Abstract—This article presents the design of optimal output feedback automatic generation control regulators for an interconnected power system with dynamic participation of doubly fed induction generator based wind turbines. The power systems consist of plants with hydro-thermal turbines and are interconnected via parallel AC/DC links. Efforts have been made to propose optimal automatic generation control regulators based on feedback of output state variables, which are easily accessible and available for the measurement. The designed optimal output feedback automatic generation control regulators are implemented, and the system dynamic responses for various system states are obtained considering 1% load perturbation in one of the areas. The dynamic performance is compared with that obtained with optimal automatic generation control regulators designed using full state vector feedback. The pattern of closed-loop eigenvalues is also determined to test the system stability.     

Adaptive finite‐time actuator fault‐tolerant coordinated attitude control of multispacecraft with input saturation

In this study, for nonrigid spacecraft formation, a distributed adaptive finite‐time actuator fault‐tolerant (FTAFT) coordinated attitude tracking control (CATC) issue is addressed. Aiming at stabilizing the spacecraft formation flying system during a limited time, two distributed adaptive FTAFT CATC strategies are presented. Initially, on basis of distributed finite‐time observer (DFTO), adaptive control, consensus approach, graph theory, and finite‐time theory, we develop a distributed adaptive FTAFT coordinated attitude tracking controller to repress the impact of the external state‐dependent and state‐independent disturbance, unknown time‐varying inertia uncertainty, and actuator fading or fault. Then, combining with the proposed controller, a distributed adaptive FTAFT control law with input saturation subjected to physical limitations of actuator is further designed. In addition, a self‐adjusting matrix (SAM) is proposed to improve the actuators' performance. With the two proposed CATC strategies, the followers can synchronize with the leader. Simulations demonstrated the validity of the designed control laws.     

Experience replay–based output feedback Q‐learning scheme for optimal output tracking control of discrete‐time linear systems

This paper focuses on solving the adaptive optimal tracking control problem for discrete‐time linear systems with unknown system dynamics using output feedback. A Q‐learning‐based optimal adaptive control scheme is presented to learn the feedback and feedforward control parameters of the optimal tracking control law. The optimal feedback parameters are learned using the proposed output feedback Q‐learning Bellman equation, whereas the estimation of the optimal feedforward control parameters is achieved using an adaptive algorithm that guarantees convergence to zero of the tracking error. The proposed method has the advantage that it is not affected by the exploration noise bias problem and does not require a discounting factor, relieving the two bottlenecks in the past works in achieving stability guarantee and optimal asymptotic tracking. Furthermore, the proposed scheme employs the experience replay technique for data‐driven learning, which is data efficient and relaxes the persistence of excitation requirement in learning the feedback control parameters. It is shown that the learned feedback control parameters converge to the optimal solution of the Riccati equation and the feedforward control parameters converge to the solution of the Sylvester equation. Simulation studies on two practical systems have been carried out to show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.     

A small‐gain approach for adaptive output‐feedback NN control of switched pure‐feedback nonlinear systems

This paper investigates the problem of adaptive output‐feedback neural network (NN) control for a class of switched pure‐feedback uncertain nonlinear systems. A switched observer is first constructed to estimate the unmeasurable states. Next, with the help of an NN to approximate the unknown nonlinear terms, a switched small‐gain technique‐based adaptive output‐feedback NN control scheme is developed by exploiting the backstepping recursive design scheme, input‐to‐state stability analysis, the common Lyapunov function method, and the average dwell time (ADT) method. In the recursive design, the difficulty of constructing an overall Lyapunov function for the switched closed‐loop system is dealt with by decomposing the switched closed‐loop system into two interconnected switched systems and constructing two Lyapunov functions for two interconnected switched systems, respectively. The proposed controllers for individual subsystems guarantee that all signals in the closed‐loop system are semiglobally, uniformly, and ultimately bounded under a class of switching signals with ADT, and finally, two examples illustrate the effectiveness of theoretical results, which include a switched RLC circuit system.     

Output‐feedback H∞ quadratic tracking control of linear systems using reinforcement learning

This paper presents an online learning algorithm based on integral reinforcement learning (IRL) to design an output‐feedback (OPFB) H_∞ tracking controller for partially unknown linear continuous‐time systems. Although reinforcement learning techniques have been successfully applied to find optimal state‐feedback controllers, in most control applications, it is not practical to measure the full system states. Therefore, it is desired to design OPFB controllers. To this end, a general bounded L₂ ‐gain tracking problem with a discounted performance function is used for the OPFB H_∞ tracking. A tracking game algebraic Riccati equation is then developed that gives a Nash equilibrium solution to the associated min‐max optimization problem. An IRL algorithm is then developed to solve the game algebraic Riccati equation online without requiring complete knowledge of the system dynamics. The proposed IRL‐based algorithm solves an IRL Bellman equation in each iteration online in real time to evaluate an OPFB policy and updates the OPFB gain using the information given by the evaluated policy. An adaptive observer is used to provide the knowledge of the full states for the IRL Bellman equation during learning. However, the observer is not needed after the learning process is finished. A simulation example is provided to verify the convergence of the proposed algorithm to a suboptimal OPFB solution and the performance of the proposed method.     

Distributed adaptive output consensus control of a class of uncertain nonlinear multiagents systems

This paper addresses the leader‐follower output consensus problem for a class of uncertain nonlinear multiagent systems in a directed communication topology. By employing the backstepping method, the dynamic surface control technique, neutral networks, and the graph theory, a distributed adaptive control scheme is developed recursively for each follower using its own and neighbors' information. The key features of this strategy are that it reduces the computational burden by introducing the dynamic surface control approach and there is no requirement for a priori knowledge about uncertain dynamics of the system. Moreover, in theory, it is proved that the designed control approach can steer the output signals of followers in a directed graph to track the desired trajectory of the leader and guarantee all signals in the closed‐loop system cooperatively semiglobally uniformly ultimately bounded. Furthermore, two examples are included, and the simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy.     

Decentralized adaptive output‐feedback control for stochastic interconnected systems with stochastic unmodeled dynamic interactions

In this paper, we consider the problem of decentralized adaptive output‐feedback regulation for stochastic nonlinear interconnected systems with unknown virtual control coefficients, stochastic unmodeled dynamic interactions. The main contributions of the paper are as follows: (1) This paper presents the first result on decentralized output‐feedback control for stochastic nonlinear systems with unknown virtual control coefficients; (2) For stochastic interconnected systems with stochastic integral input‐to‐state stable unmodeled dynamics, and more general nonlinear uncertain interconnections which depend upon the outputs of subsystems and the stochastic unmodeled dynamics, a decentralized output‐feedback controller is designed to drive the outputs and states to the origin almost surely. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Adaptive state‐feedback control with sensor failure compensation for asymptotic output tracking

This paper addresses a new adaptive output tracking problem in the presence of uncertain plant dynamics and uncertain sensor failures. A new unified nominal state‐feedback control law is developed to deal with various sensor failures, which is directly constructed by state sensor outputs. Such a new state‐feedback compensation control law is able to ensure the desired plant‐model matching properties under different failure patterns. Based on the nominal compensation control design, a new adaptive compensation control scheme is proposed, which guarantees closed‐loop signal boundedness and asymptotic output tracking. The new adaptive compensation scheme not only expands the sensor failures types that the system could tolerate but also avoids some signal processing procedures that the traditional fault‐tolerant control techniques are forced to encounter. A complete stability analysis and a representative simulation study are conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed adaptive compensation control scheme.     

Adaptive output regulation for one-dimensional parabolic equation with nonlocal term

In this article, we develop the adaptive error feedback regulator design for one-dimensional heat equation with a nonlocal term and disturbances which are located all the channels. First, we construct a transformation to transform the original system into the first auxiliary system, and in this system the measurable tracking error becomes output, both the disturbances located at the in-domain and the control end are transformed to the uncontrolled end. Next, we design an observer for the first auxiliary system and an estimation mechanism for unknown parameters based on measurable tracking error. Then, by another transformation, we obtain the second auxiliary system, in which the disturbances and the reference signal are collocated with the control. Finally, the adaptive error feedback regulator is designed by using the backstepping method. The simulation results show that the regulator makes the tracking error asymptotically tend to zero and the state of the closed-loop system is bounded.