On improvement of transient performance in tracking control for a class of nonlinear systems with input saturation

This paper studies the technique of the composite nonlinear feedback (CNF) control for a class of cascade nonlinear systems with input saturation. The objective of this paper is to improve the transient performance of the closed-loop system by designing a CNF control law such that the output of the system tracks a step input rapidly with small overshoot and at the same time maintains the stability of the whole cascade system. The CNF control law consists of a linear feedback control law and a nonlinear feedback control law. The linear feedback law is designed to yield a closed-loop system with a small damping ratio for a quick response, while the nonlinear feedback law is used to increase the damping ratio of the closed-loop system when the system output approaches the target reference to reduce the overshoot. The result has been successfully demonstrated by numerical and application examples including a flight control system for a fighter aircraft.     

Composite nonlinear feedback control for linear singular systems with input saturation

This paper investigates the composite nonlinear feedback (CNF) control technique for linear singular systems with input saturation. First, a linear feedback control law is designed for the step tracking control problem of linear singular systems subject to input saturation. Then, based on this linear feedback gain, a CNF control law is constructed to improve the transient performance of the closed-loop system. By introducing a generalized Lyapunov equation, this paper develops a design procedure for constructing the CNF control law for linear singular systems with input saturation. After decomposing the closed-loop system into fast subsystem and slow subsystem, it can be shown that the nonlinear part of the CNF control law only relies on slow subsystem. The improvement of transient performance by the proposed design method is demonstrated by an illustrative example.     

On Improving Transient Performance in Tracking Control for a Class of Nonlinear Discrete-Time Systems With Input Saturation

Quick response and small overshoot are two desired transient performances of target tracking control. While most of the design schemes compromise between these two performances, we try to achieve both simultaneously for the tracking control of a class of nonlinear discrete-time systems with input saturation by using a composite nonlinear feedback (CNF) control technique. The closed-loop system with improved transient performance preserves the stability of the nonlinear part of the partially linear composite system.     

Semi-global output regulation for linear systems with input saturation by composite nonlinear feedback control

To improve transient performance of output response, this paper applies composite nonlinear feedback (CNF) control technique to investigate semi-global output regulation problems for linear systems with input saturation. Based on a linear state feedback control law for a semi-global output regulation problem, a state feedback CNF control law is constructed by adding a nonlinear feedback part. The extra nonlinear feedback part can be applied to improve the transient performance of the closed-loop system. Moreover, an observer is designed to construct an output feedback CNF control law that also solves the semi-global output regulation problem. The sufficient solvability condition of the semi-global output regulation problem by CNF control is the same as that by linear control, but the CNF control technique can improve the transient performance. The effectiveness of the proposed method is illustrated by a disturbance rejection problem of a translational oscillator with rotational actuator system.     

Composite nonlinear feedback control for strict-feedback nonlinear systems with input saturation

This paper focuses on composite nonlinear feedback (CNF) controller design for tracking control problem of strict-feedback nonlinear systems with input saturation to address the improvement of transient performance. First, without considering the input saturation, a stabilisation control law is designed by using standard backstepping technique for the nonlinear system, then a feedforward control law is added to the backstepping-based stabilisation control law to construct a tracking control law. The tracking control law is tuned to drive the output of the closed-loop system to track a command input with quick response. Then, an additional nonlinear feedback law is constructed and combined with the tracking control law to obtain a CNF control law. The role of this additional nonlinear feedback law is to smoothly change the damping ratio of the closed-loop system while the system output approaches the command input, and to reduce overshoot caused by the tracking control law. It is shown that the extra-adding nonlinear feedback part does not cause the loss of stability of the closed-loop system in its attractive basin.     

On improving transient performance in tracking control for switched systems with input saturation via composite nonlinear feedback

This paper is concerned with transient performance in tracking problem for switched linear systems with input saturation. A design procedure for constructing the composite nonlinear feedback (CNF) control law is developed. Under the average dwell time scheme, the controlled output of the closed‐loop switched system tracks asymptotically a step reference by CNF control technique without exceeding the saturation limit. At the same time, the desired transient performance with quick response and small overshoot can be achieved. In addition, the proposed method is applied to the control of turntable servo system. The example of turntable demonstrates the feasibility and effectiveness of the results proposed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Composite nonlinear feedback control for cooperative output regulation of linear multi-agent systems by a distributed dynamic compensator

This paper investigates the cooperative output regulation problem of linear multi-agent systems with a linear exogenous system (exo-system). The network topology is described by a directed graph which contains a directed spanning tree with the exo-system as the root. Aiming at improving the transient performance of the multi-agent systems, a dynamic control law is developed by the composite nonlinear feedback (CNF) control technique. In particular, a distributed dynamic compensator independent of the interaction on the compensator states of agents among the network, is adopted. The solvability condition for the cooperative output regulation problem is obtained using the small-gain theory, which will not be destroyed by adding the nonlinear feedback part of the CNF control law. It is also shown that in the case with the exo-system not diverging exponentially, the small-gain condition can be guaranteed using the low-gain design. Finally, simulation results illustrate that the proposed CNF control law improves the transient performance for the cooperative output regulation of linear multi-agent systems.     

Composite nonlinear feedback control for linear systems with input saturation: theory and an application

We study in this paper the theory and applications of a nonlinear control technique, i.e., the so-called composite nonlinear feedback control, for a class of linear systems with actuator nonlinearities. It consists of a linear feedback law and a nonlinear feedback law without any switching element. The linear feedback part is designed to yield a closed-loop system with a small damping ratio for a quick response, while at the same time not exceeding the actuator limits for the desired command input levels. The nonlinear feedback law is used to increase the damping ratio of the closed-loop system as the system output approaches the target reference to reduce the overshoot caused by the linear part. It is shown that the proposed technique is capable of beating the well-known time-optimal control in the asymptotic tracking situations. The application of such a new technique to an actual hard disk drive servo system shows that it outperforms the conventional method by more than 30%. The technique can be applied to design servo systems that deal with "point-and-shoot" fast targeting.     

Multiple model adaptive control for a class of nonlinear systems with unknown control directions

This study introduces an improved multiple model adaptive control (MMAC) algorithm for a class of nonlinear discrete-time systems. The controller consists of a linear direct adaptive controller, a neural network-based nonlinear direct adaptive controller and a switching mechanism. The assumption of the nonlinear term is relaxed by incorporating a parameter estimator with an augmented error. The control direction of the system is not required to be known by employing a linear direct adaptive controller with the discrete Nussbaum gain and future output predictions. The stability of the closed-loop systems applying the proposed MMAC method is proved and the improved transient performance of the system is illustrated by the simulation results.     

Structural design of composite nonlinear feedback control for linear systems with actuator constraint

The performance of the composite nonlinear feedback (CNF) control law relies on the selection of the linear feedback gain and the nonlinear function. However, it is a tough task to select an appropriate linear feedback gain and appropriate parameters of the nonlinear function because the general design procedure of CNF control just gives some simple guidelines for the selections. This paper proposes an operational design procedure based on the structural decomposition of the linear systems with input saturation. The linear feedback gain is constructed by two linear gains which are designed independently to stabilize the unstable zero dynamics part and the pure integration part of the system respectively. By investigating the influence of these two linear gains on transient performance, it is flexible and efficient to design a satisfactory linear feedback gain for the CNF control law. Moreover, the parameters of the nonlinear function are tuned automatically by solving a minimization problem. The proposed design procedure is illustrated by applying it to design a tracking control law for the inverted pendulum on a cart system. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd and Chinese Automatic Control Society     

An innovative algorithm for tuning of composite nonlinear feedback control in continuous-time systems

The transient response improvement is the most crucial feature of the composite nonlinear feedback (CNF) controllers. This study proposes a novel CNF tuning method for systems subject to saturation. To achieve the goals, the linear part is optimally obtained via a performance index and the linear matrix inequality (LMI). Then, employing the passivity property, a heuristic way is suggested to adjust the nonlinear term. Thus, the automatic and online features would be the key novelties of this algorithm compared with the offline, trial and error, or nonautomatic ones. Some systems are simulated to evaluate the technique and compare with the existing methods. The outcomes confirm that the proposed tuning yields outstanding improvement concerning the aforementioned systems.     

Advantages of the passivity based control in dynamic voltage restorers for power quality improvement

A better and feasible control strategy for dynamic voltage restorers (DVR) is presented in this paper: the passivity based control (PBC) allows a better compensation performance under transient and steady state operating conditions, and provides tracking with zero error of any reference for linear and nonlinear loads. The closed-loop source-DVR-PBC-load system is asymptotically stable at all operating points, with practically very slight constraints; its transient response is faster than with classical controllers, and does not present overshoots. These characteristics do not depend on source voltage disturbances, the kind of load, or parameter variations. The PBC uses less digital operations than the PI, and does not require dq transformations.     

Adaptive NN control for a class of strict-feedback discrete-time nonlinear systems

In this paper, both full state and output feedback adaptive neural network (NN) controllers are presented for a class of strict-feedback discrete-time nonlinear systems. Firstly, Lyapunov-based full-state adaptive NN control is presented via backstepping, which avoids the possible controller singularity problem in adaptive nonlinear control and solves the noncausal problem in the discrete-time backstepping design procedure. After the strict-feedback form is transformed into a cascade form, another relatively simple Lyapunov-based direct output feedback control is developed. The closed-loop systems for both control schemes are proven to be semi-globally uniformly ultimately bounded.     

A proportional integral extremum-seeking control approach for discrete-time nonlinear systems

This paper proposes a proportional-integral extremum-seeking control technique for a class of discrete-time nonlinear dynamical systems with unknown dynamics. The technique is a generalisation of existing time-varying extremum-seeking control (ESC) techniques that provides fast transient performance of the closed-loop system to the optimum equilibrium of a measured objective function. The main contribution of the proposed technique is the addition of a proportional action that can be used to minimise the impact of a time-scale separation on the transient performance of the ESC system. The integral action fulfils the role of standard ESC techniques to identify optimal equilibrium conditions. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated using a simulation example.     

Semi-global sampled-data output feedback disturbance rejection control for a class of uncertain nonlinear systems

This paper investigates the semi-global output feedback disturbance rejection control problem for a class of uncertain nonlinear systems with additive disturbances using linear sampled-data control. Aiming to reject the adverse effects caused by the uncertainties and unknown nonlinear perturbations which may not satisfy the strict feedback or feedforward structure, a new generalised discrete-time extended state observer is proposed to estimate the disturbance at sampling points. An output feedback disturbance rejection control law is then constructed in a sampled-data form which facilitates digital implementations. By selecting adequate control gains and a sufficiently small sampling period to restrain the state growth under a zero-order-hold input, the semi-global asymptotic stability of the hybrid closed-loop system and the disturbance rejection ability are proved. Both numerical example and an application of a single-link robot arm system demonstrate the feasibility and efficacy of the proposed method.     

Discrete-time neural network output feedback control of nonlinear discrete-time systems in non-strict form

An adaptive neural network (NN)-based output feedback controller is proposed to deliver a desired tracking performance for a class of discrete-time nonlinear systems, which are represented in non-strict feedback form. The NN backstepping approach is utilized to design the adaptive output feedback controller consisting of: (1) an NN observer to estimate the system states and (2) two NNs to generate the virtual and actual control inputs, respectively. The non-causal problem encountered during the control design is overcome by using a dynamic NN which is constructed through a feedforward NN with a novel weight tuning law. The separation principle is relaxed, persistency of excitation condition (PE) is not needed and certainty equivalence principle is not used. The uniformly ultimate boundedness (UUB) of the closed-loop tracking error, the state estimation errors and the NN weight estimates is demonstrated. Though the proposed work is applicable for second order nonlinear discrete-time systems expressed in non-strict feedback form, the proposed controller design can be easily extendable to an nth order nonlinear discrete-time system.     

Unified stabilizing controller synthesis approach for discrete-time intelligent systems with time delays by dynamic output feedback

A novel model, termed the standard neural network model (SNNM), is advanced to describe some delayed (or non-delayed) discrete-time intelligent systems com- posed of neural networks and Takagi and Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy models. The SNNM is composed of a discrete-time linear dynamic system and a bounded static nonlinear operator. Based on the global asymptotic stability analysis of the SNNMs, linear and nonlinear dynamic output feedback controllers are designed for the SNNMs to stabilize the closed-loop systems, respectively. The control design equations are shown to be a set of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) which can be easily solved by various convex optimization algorithms to determine the control signals. Most neural-network-based (or fuzzy) discrete-time intelligent systems with time delays or without time delays can be transformed into the SNNMs for controller synthesis in a unified way. Three application examples show that the SNNMs not only make controller synthesis of neural-network-based (or fuzzy) discrete-time intelligent systems much easier, but also provide a new approach to the synthesis of the controllers for the other type of nonlinear systems.     

不确定离散时间切换系统的鲁棒保性能控制

本文基于平均滞留时间和多Lyapunov函数方法,研究了一类线性不确定线性离散切换系统的保性能鲁棒控制问题,以线性矩阵不等式的形式设计了状态反馈保性能控制器使得相应的闭环系统对所有允许的不确定性是全局指数稳定的,并得到一个加权性能上界.仿真结果表明了该方法的有效性.     

双惯性伺服传动系统的抗扰动复合非线性控制

本文把复合非线性反馈(composite nonlinear feedback,CNF)控制技术推广到带有非定常扰动的输入饱和限幅的线性系统.其中,未知扰动被作为一个扩张状态量增广到被控对象的模型中,然后设计一个扩展状态观测器来对系统的状态量和扰动同时进行估计,通过在CNF控制的框架中引入一个扰动补偿机制,在降低由扰动引起的稳态误差的同时,保留了CNF原有的快速的瞬态性能.这种控制方案对定常或时变扰动、匹配或非匹配的扰动,都能统一处理.论文对该控制方案的闭环稳定性和定点跟踪性能进行了理论分析,并把它应用到一个双惯性伺服传动系统.数值仿真结果验证了该方案在定点跟踪控制中具有优越的瞬态性能和稳态精度,且对扰动/给定目标的幅值变化也有一定的性能鲁棒性.     

Dynamic Output Feedback for Discrete-Time Systems Under Amplitude and Rate Actuator Constraints

This work proposes a technique for the design of stabilizing dynamic output feedback controllers for discrete-time linear systems with rate and amplitude saturating actuators. The nonlinear effects introduced by the saturations in the closed-loop system are taken into account by using a generalized sector condition, which leads to theoretical conditions for solving the problem directly in the form of linear matrix inequalities.