Finite‐time output‐feedback stabilization of high‐order nonholonomic systems

This paper investigates the problem of finite‐time output‐feedback stabilization of a class of high‐order nonholonomic systems under weaker conditions on system powers and nonlinearities. By constructing the appropriate Lyapunov function and observer, skillfully combining generalized adding a power integrator technique, sign function, and homogeneous domination method, and successfully introducing a new mathematical method, an output‐feedback controller is constructed to guarantee that all the states of the closed‐loop system converge to origin in a finite time.     

Stabilization of uncertain chained nonholonomic systems using adaptive output feedback

In this paper, adaptive output feedback control is presented to solve the stabilization problem of nonholonomic systems in chained form with strong nonlinear drifts and uncertain parameters using output signals only. The objective is to design adaptive nonlinear output feedback laws which can steer the closed‐loop systems to globally converge to the origin, while the estimated parameters remain bounded. The proposed systematic strategy combines input‐state scaling with backstepping technique. Motivated from a special case, adaptive output feedback controllers are proposed for a class of uncertain chained systems. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controllers. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd and Chinese Automatic Control Society     

Finite‐time output tracking for a class of switched nonlinear systems

This paper investigates the finite‐time output tracking for a class of switched nonlinear systems in p‐normal form. Compared with the existing results, the restrictions on power orders of the system are relaxed. Using the convex combination method and the adding a power integrator technique, a state‐dependent switching and law, and state feedback controllers of individual subsystems are constructed. It is shown that all states of the closed‐loop system are bounded, and the tracking error can converge to a small neighborhood of zero in finite time. An example is provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed method. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Finite‐time output feedback stabilization of nonlinear high‐order feedforward systems

This paper considers the global finite‐time output feedback stabilization of a class of nonlinear high‐order feedforward systems. By using the homogeneous domination method together with adding a power integrator method and overcoming several troublesome obstacles in the design and analysis, a global finite‐time output feedback controller with reduced‐order observer is recursively designed to globally finite‐time stabilize nonlinear high‐order feedforward systems. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Output‐feedback control strategies of lower‐triangular nonlinear nonholonomic systems in any prescribed finite time

In this paper, output‐feedback control strategies are proposed for lower‐triangular nonlinear nonholonomic systems in any prescribed finite time. Specifically, by employing the input‐state–scaling technique, the controlled systems are firstly converted into lower‐triangular nonlinear systems, which makes it possible to study such systems using the high‐gain technique. Then, by introducing a scaling of the state by a function that grows unbounded toward the terminal time and proposing a high‐gain observer–prescribed finite time recovering the system states, the output‐feedback regulation control problem in any prescribed finite time is firstly achieved for nonlinear nonholonomic systems with unknown constant incremental rate. Moreover, by designing another time‐varying high gain, the output‐feedback stabilization control problem in any prescribed finite time is then achieved for nonlinear nonholonomic systems with a time‐varying incremental rate. Finally, a numerical example is introduced to show the effectiveness of proposed control strategies.     

Finite‐time formation control of multiagent systems via dynamic output feedback

Finite‐time formation control of multiple second‐order agents via dynamic output feedback is investigated in this paper. Under the assumption that the velocities of all agents cannot be measured, a continuous consensus algorithm is first proposed such that the states of all agents will reach an agreement in finite time. Then, the consensus algorithm is applied to the finite‐time formation control, including stationary formation and moving formation, respectively. Rigorous proof shows that all agents will converge to the desired formation pattern in finite time. Finally, an example is given to verify the efficiency of the proposed method. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The output feedback control for uncertain nonholonomic systems

This paper considers the problems of almost asymptotic stabilization and global asymptotic regulation (GAR) by output feedback for a class of uncertain nonholonomic systems. By combining the nonsmooth change of coordinates and output feedback domination design together, we construct a simple linear time-varying output feedback controller, which can universally stabilize a whole family of uncertain nonholonomic systems. The simulation demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed controller.     

The output feedback control for uncertain nonholonomic systems

This paper considers the problems of almost asymptotic stabilization and global asymptotic regulation （GAR） by output feedback for a class of uncertain nonholonomic systems. By combining the nonsmooth change of coordinates and output feedback domination design together, we construct a simple linear time-varying output feedback controller, which can universally stabilize a whole family of uncertain nonholonomic systems. The simulation demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed controller.     

Finite‐time consensus tracking for harmonic oscillators using both state feedback control and output feedback control

This paper investigates the distributed finite‐time consensus‐tracking problem for coupled harmonic oscillators. The objective is to guarantee a team of followers modeled by harmonic oscillators to track a dynamic virtual leader in finite time. Only a subset of followers can access the information of the virtual leader, and the interactions between followers are assumed to be local. We consider two cases: (i) The followers can obtain the relative states between their neighbors and their own; and (ii) Only relative outputs between neighboring agents are available. In the former case, a distributed consensus protocol is adopted to achieve the finite‐time consensus tracking. In the latter case, we propose a novel observer‐based dynamic protocol to guarantee the consensus tracking in finite time. Simulation examples are finally presented to verify the theoretical analysis. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Adaptive output feedback control for nonholonomic systems with uncertain chained form

The output feedback adaptive control problem is investigated for nonholonomic systems with strongly nonlinear uncertainties and unknown virtual control directions. A nonlinear output feedback switching controller based on the output measurement of the first subsystem is employed in order to make the state scaling effective and ensure the convergence of the system states. The novel observer/estimator is introduced for state and unknown parameter estimates. The integrator backstepping technique by the use of a constructive recursive is applied to the design of the adaptive controller and to overcome the unknown virtual control directions. The simulation result validates the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.     

Finite‐time tracking control of a nonholonomic mobile robot

In this paper, the finite‐time tracking problem is investigated for a nonholonomic wheeled mobile robot in a fifth‐order dynamic model. We consider the whole tracking error system as a cascaded system. Two continuous global finite‐time stabilizing controllers are designed for a second‐order subsystem and a third‐order subsystem respectively. Then finite‐time stability results for cascaded systems are employed to prove that the closed‐loop system satisfies the finite‐time stability. Thus the closed‐loop system can track the reference trajectory in finite‐time when the desired velocities satisfy some conditions. In particular, we discuss the control gains selection for the third‐order finite‐time controller and give sufficient conditions by using Lyapunov and backstepping techniques. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of our method. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd and Chinese Automatic Control Society     

Multivariable finite‐time output feedback trajectory tracking control of quadrotor helicopters

A continuous multivariable output feedback control scheme is developed for trajectory tracking and attitude stabilization of quadrotor helicopters. The whole closed‐loop system is composed by position loop and attitude loop. The homogeneous technique is used to design finite‐time stabilizing controller and observer in each loop. The virtual control is introduced in position loop to ensure that the real control is smooth enough such that it can be tracked by attitude loop. The finite‐time stability of the closed‐loop system is guaranteed through homogeneity and Lyapunov analysis. Finally, the efficiency of the proposed algorithm is illustrated by numerical simulations.     

Semi‐global output feedback control for nonlinear systems with uncertain time‐delay and output function

This paper considers semi‐global output feedback control for more general nonlinear systems with unknown time‐delay and output function whose derivative is unbounded from above. By introducing a new observer and using the backstepping design method and the Razumikhin stability theorem, an output feedback controller is constructed to achieve a semi‐global stability. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Switched state feedback for uncertain continuous‐time systems with interval delays

The objective of this paper is to design a switched robust control for a class of continuous‐time systems subject to linear fractional uncertainty and interval time delays. The controller is based on state feedback and the LMI‐based stability conditions are derived using an improved Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional. Moreover, the switching rule as well as the state feedback gains are determined from the minimization of a guaranteed cost function. The theoretical results are illustrated with a numerical example. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Distributed output‐feedback finite‐time tracking control of nonaffine nonlinear leader‐follower multiagent systems

The distributed output‐feedback tracking control for a class of networked multiagents in nonaffine pure‐feedback form is investigated in this article. By introducing a low‐pass filter and some auxiliary variables, we first transform the nonaffine system into the affine form. Then, the finite‐time observer is designed to estimate the states of the newly derived affine system. By applying the fraction dynamic surface control approach and the neural network‐based approximation technique, the distributed output‐feedback control laws are proposed and it is proved that the tracking errors converge to an arbitrarily small bound around zero in finite time. Finally, some simulation examples are provided to confirm the effectiveness of the developed method.     

Robust adaptive tracking of uncertain nonlinear systems by output feedback

We investigate the problem of robust adaptive tracking by output feedback for a class of uncertain nonlinear systems. Based on the high‐gain scaling technique and a new adaptive law, a linear‐like output feedback controller is constructed. Only one dynamic gain is designed, which makes the controller easier to implement. Furthermore, by modifying the update law, the adaptive controller is robust to bounded external disturbance and is able to guarantee the convergence of the output tracking error to an arbitrarily small residual set. A numerical example is used to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Robust finite‐time consensus formation control for multiple nonholonomic wheeled mobile robots via output feedback

The finite‐time formation control for multiple nonholonomic wheeled mobile robots with a leader‐following structure is studied. Different from the existing results, the considered mobile robot has the following features: (i) a higher‐order dynamic model, (ii) the robot's velocities cannot be measured, and (iii) there are external disturbances. To solve the problem, a finite‐time consensus formation control algorithm via output feedback is explicitly given. At the first step, some finite‐time convergent observers are skillfully constructed to estimate both the unknown velocity information and the disturbance in finite time by imposing certain assumptions on the disturbances. Then, on the basis of the integral sliding‐mode control method, a disturbance observer‐based finite‐time output feedback controller is developed. Rigorous proof shows that the finite‐time formation can be achieved in finite time. An example is finally given to verify the efficiency of the proposed method.     

Event‐triggered practical finite‐time output feedback stabilization of a class of uncertain nonlinear systems

This paper studies the event‐triggered practical finite‐time output feedback stabilization problem for a class of uncertain nonlinear systems with unknown control gains. First, a reduced‐dimensional observer is employed to implement the reconstruction of the unavailable states. Furthermore, a novel event‐triggered output feedback control strategy is proposed based on the idea of backstepping design and sign function techniques. It is shown that the practical finite‐time stability of the closed‐loop systems is ensured by Lyapunov analysis and related stability criterion. Compared with the existing methods, the main advantage of this strategy is that the observer errors and event‐trigger errors can be processed simultaneously to achieve the practical finite‐time stability. Finally, an example is adopted to demonstrate the validity of the proposed scheme.     

Output feedback tracking control by additive state decomposition for a class of uncertain systems

Besides parametric uncertainties and disturbances, unmodelled dynamics and time delay at the input are often present in practical systems, and cannot always be ignored. This paper aims to solve the problem of output feedback tracking control for a class of non-linear uncertain systems subject to unmodelled high-frequency gains and time delay in the input. By additive state decomposition, the uncertain system is transformed to an uncertainty-free system, in which the uncertainties, disturbances and effects of unmodelled dynamics along with time delay are lumped into a new disturbance at the output. Subsequently, additive state decomposition is used to decompose the transformed system to simplify the tracking controller design. The proposed control scheme is applied to three benchmark examples to demonstrate its effectiveness.     

Robust control of a family of uncertain nonminimum‐phase systems via continuous‐time and sampled‐data output feedback

The problem of global robust stabilization is studied by both continuous‐time and sampled‐data output feedback for a family of nonminimum‐phase nonlinear systems with uncertainty. The uncertain nonlinear system considered in this paper has an interconnect structure consisting of a driving system and a possibly unstable zero dynamics with uncertainty, ie, the uncertain driven system. Under a linear growth condition on the uncertain zero dynamics and a Lipschitz condition on the driving system, we show that it is possible to globally robustly stabilize the family of uncertain nonminimum‐phase systems by a single continuous‐time or a sampled‐data output feedback controller. The sampled‐data output feedback controller is designed by using the emulated versions of a continuous‐time observer and a state feedback controller, ie, by holding the input/output signals constant over each sampling interval. The design of either continuous‐time or sampled‐data output compensator uses only the information of the nominal system of the uncertain controlled plant. In the case of sampled‐data control, global robust stability of the hybrid closed‐loop system with uncertainty is established by means of a feedback domination method together with the robustness of the nominal closed‐loop system if the sampling time is small enough.