Uniform disturbance localization with simultaneous uniform exact model matching for linear time-varying analytic systems

The problem of uniform disturbance localization with simultaneousuniform exact model matching for linear time-varying analyticsystems via static state feedback is investigated, for the firsttime. The primary feature of the approach used is that it reducesthe problem to that of solving a nonhomogeneous algebraic systemof equations. From this system is obtained a set of necessaryand sufficient conditions for the solvability of the problem,and a general analytical expression for all admissible controllers.     

Optimal control for lithium-ion batteries

Modelling, simulation and optimal control for a lithium-ion battery cell is discussed. The model involves ionic concentrations, currents and potentials in the electrodes and the separator together with the battery temperature as state variables. The resulting system is a nonlinear PDAE system with 10 partial, 1 ordinary differential and 4 algebraic equations involving the Butler-Volmer kinetics for describing the interaction of ionic currents and potentials. Time-optimal charging of the battery subject to age-preventing leads to a state-constrained optimal control problem which is solved in two ways. A first-discretize-then-optimize approach leads to a high-dimensional nonlinear optimization problem which is solved by an efficient solver. As an alternative, a feedback control law along an active arc of the state constraint of order 1 is derived to formulate and solve the corresponding so-called induced optimization problem. (© 2015 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Decomposition and suboptimal control in dynamical systems

A non-linear controllable dynamical system described by Lagrange equations is considered. The problem of constructing bounded controlling forces which steer the system to a given state in a finite time is investigated. Sufficient conditions are indicated for the problem to be solvable. Under these conditions, the initial system splits into subsystems, each with the degree of freedom. On the basis of this decomposition, using a game-theoretic approach, a feedback control law is proposed which solves the problem posed above and is nearly time-optimal. It is shown that the control must be constructed with proper allowance for the maximum values of the non-linear terms and perturbations in the equations of motion. The perturbations may be ignored only if the ratio of the maximum level of the perturbation to that of the control does not exceed the “golden section”.     

Output Regulation in Differential Variational Inequalities using Internal Model Principle and Passivity-Based Approach

We consider the problem of designing state feedback control laws for output regulation in a class of dynamical systems where state trajectories are constrained to evolve within time-varying, closed, and convex sets. The first main result states sufficient conditions for existence and uniqueness of solutions in such systems. We then design a static state feedback control law using the internal model principle, which results in a well-posed closed-loop system and solves the regulation problem. As an application, we demonstrate how control input resulting from the solution of a variational inequality results in regulating the output of the system while maintaining polyhedral state constraints. (© 2015 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

A complete characterization of the feedback-linearized input-output response

The problem of characterizing the feedback-linearized input–outputresponse of a single-input single-output nonlinear system viastatic state feedback is completely solved. The proposed approachreduces the problem of determining the structure of the mostgeneral linearized input–output response, together withthe respective control law, to that of solving a nonhomogeneoussystem of first-order partial differential equations. Necessaryand sufficient conditions for this system of equations to havea solution are established which are of an algebraic natureand henceforth easily checkable. Based on these conditions,the linearized input–output response is completely characterized,prior to determining the desired control law. Furthermore, thegeneral solution of this system of equations is derived whichleads to the determination of the general analytical expressionfor the control law that satisfies the input–output linearizationproblem.     

Approximation design of optimal controllers for nonlinear systems with sinusoidal disturbances

This paper considers an infinite-time optimal damping control problem for a class of nonlinear systems with sinusoidal disturbances. A successive approximation approach (SAA) is applied to design feedforward and feedback optimal controllers. By using the SAA, the original optimal control problem is transformed into a sequence of nonhomogeneous linear two-point boundary value (TPBV) problems. The existence and uniqueness of the optimal control law are proved. The optimal control law is derived from a Riccati equation, matrix equations and an adjoint vector sequence, which consists of accurate linear feedforward and feedback terms and a nonlinear compensation term. And the nonlinear compensation term is the limit of the adjoint vector sequence. By using a finite term of the adjoint vector sequence, we can get an approximate optimal control law. A numerical example shows that the algorithm is effective and robust with respect to sinusoidal disturbances.     

Asymmetric games for convolution systems with applications to feedback control of constrained parabolic equations

The paper is devoted to the study of some classes of feedback control problems for linear parabolic equations subject to hard/pointwise constraints on both Dirichlet boundary controls and state dynamic/output functions in the presence of uncertain perturbations within given regions. The underlying problem under consideration, originally motivated by automatic control of the groundwater regime in irrigation networks, is formalized as a minimax problem of optimal control, where the control strategy is sought as a feedback law. Problems of this type are among the most important in control theory and applications — while most challenging and difficult. Based on the Maximum Principle for parabolic equations and on the time convolution structure, we reformulate the problems under consideration as certain asymmetric games, which become the main object of our study in this paper. We establish some simple conditions for the existence of winning and losing strategies for the game players, which then allow us to clarify controllability issues in the feedback control problem for such constrained parabolic systems.     

Mitigating the curse of dimensionality: sparse grid characteristics method for optimal feedback control and HJB equations

We address finding the semi-global solutions to optimal feedback control and the Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman (HJB) equation. Using the solution of an HJB equation, a feedback optimal control law can be implemented in real-time with minimum computational load. However, except for systems with two or three state variables, using traditional techniques for numerically finding a semi-global solution to an HJB equation for general nonlinear systems is infeasible due to the curse of dimensionality. Here we present a new computational method for finding feedback optimal control and solving HJB equations which is able to mitigate the curse of dimensionality. We do not discretize the HJB equation directly, instead we introduce a sparse grid in the state space and use the Pontryagin’s maximum principle to derive a set of necessary conditions in the form of a boundary value problem, also known as the characteristic equations, for each grid point. Using this approach, the method is spatially causality free, which enjoys the advantage of perfect parallelism on a sparse grid. Compared with dense grids, a sparse grid has a significantly reduced size which is feasible for systems with relatively high dimensions, such as the 6-D system shown in the examples. Once the solution obtained at each grid point, high-order accurate polynomial interpolation is used to approximate the feedback control at arbitrary points. We prove an upper bound for the approximation error and approximate it numerically. This sparse grid characteristics method is demonstrated with three examples of rigid body attitude control using momentum wheels.     

Taylor expansions of the value function associated with a bilinear optimal control problem

A general bilinear optimal control problem subject to an infinite-dimensional state equation is considered. Polynomial approximations of the associated value function are derived around the steady state by repeated formal differentiation of the Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman equation. The terms of the approximations are described by multilinear forms, which can be obtained as solutions to generalized Lyapunov equations with recursively defined right-hand sides. They form the basis for defining a suboptimal feedback law. The approximation properties of this feedback law are investigated. An application to the optimal control of a Fokker–Planck equation is also provided.     

Internal Optimal Controller Synthesis for Navier–Stokes Equations

Barbu and Triggiani (Indiana Univ. Math. J. 2004; 53:1443–1494) have proposed a solution of the internal feedback stabilization problem of Navier–Stokes equations with no-slip boundary conditions. They have shown that any unstable steady-state solution can be exponentially stabilized by a finite-dimensional feedback controller with support in an arbitrary open subset of positive measure. The finite dimension of the feedback controller is minimal and is related to the largest algebraic multiplicity of the unstable eigenvalues of the linearized equation. The feedback law is obtained as a solution of a linear-quadratic control problem. In this paper, we formulate a practical algorithm implementation of the proposed stabilization approach, based on the finite element method, and demonstrate its applicability and effectiveness using an example involving the stabilization of two-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations.     

Delay-dependent nonfragile guaranteed cost control for nonlinear time-delay systems

This paper concerns the nonfragile guaranteed cost control problem for a class of nonlinear dynamic systems with multiple time delays and controller gain perturbations. Guaranteed cost control law is designed under two classes of perturbations, namely, additive form and multiplicative form. The problem is to design a memoryless state feedback control law such that the closed-loop system is asymptotically stable and the closed-loop cost function value is not more than a specified upper bound for all admissible uncertainties. Based on the linear matrix inequality (LMI) approach, some delay-dependent conditions for the existence of such controller are derived. A numerical example is given to illustrate the proposed method.     

Quantized stabilization of discrete-time systems in a networked environment

This paper is concerned with the problem of output feedback stabilization for a class of discrete-time systems with sector nonlinearities and imperfect measurements. A unified control law model is proposed to take the network-induced delay, random packet dropout and measurement quantization into consideration simultaneously. By choosing appropriate Lyapunov functional, a new stability condition, which is dependent on multiple network status, is established for the resulting closed-loop system. Based on the result, a design criterion for the static output feedback controller is formulated in the form of nonconvex matrix inequalities, and the cone complementary linearization (CCL) procedure is exploited to solve the nonconvex feasibility problem. Incidentally, a less conservative synthesis method is also developed for the state feedback stabilization purpose. Finally, two illustrative examples are provided to illustrate the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed design method.     

Invariant tracking control design via integrator backstepping

A tracking control problem for systems in state representation possessing a Lie symmetry group G is considered. By designing an invariant feedback control law based on invariant tracking errors the symmetry group G can be preserved under feedback. An extension of this approach to the popular integrator backstepping design method is presented. (© 2010 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

A novel feedforward–feedback suboptimal control of linear time-delay systems

This paper presents a new approach for solving the optimal control problem of linear time-delay systems with a quadratic cost functional. In this approach, a method of successive substitution is employed to convert the original time-delay optimal control problem into a sequence of linear time-invariant ordinary differential equations (ODEs) without delay and advance terms. The obtained optimal control consists of a linear state feedback term and a forward term. The feedback term is determined by solving a matrix Riccati differential equation. The forward term is an infinite sum of adjoint vectors, which can be obtained by solving recursively the above-mentioned sequence of linear non-delay ODEs. A fast-converging iterative algorithm for this purpose is presented which provides a promising possible reduction of computational efforts. Numerical examples demonstrating the efficiency, simplicity and high accuracy of the suggested technique have been included. Simulation results reveal that just a few iterations of the proposed algorithm are required to find an accurate enough feedforward–feedback suboptimal control.     

Adaptive Predictor-Based Output Feedback Control for a Class of Unknown MIMO Linear Systems

In this paper, the problem of characterizing adaptive output feedback control laws for a general class of unknown MIMO linear systems is considered. Specifically, the presented control approach relies on three components, i.e., a predictor, a reference model and a controller. The predictor is designed to predict the system’s output with arbitrary accuracy, for any admissible control input. Subsequently, a full state feedback control law is designed to control the predictor output to approach the reference system, while the reference system tracks the desired trajectory. Ultimately, the control objective of driving the actual system output to track the desired trajectories is achieved by showing that the system output, the predictor output and the reference system trajectories all converge to each other.     

Local rapid stabilization for a Korteweg–de Vries equation with a Neumann boundary control on the right

This paper is devoted to the study of the rapid exponential stabilization problem for a controlled Korteweg–de Vries equation on a bounded interval with homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions and Neumann boundary control at the right endpoint of the interval. For every noncritical length, we build a feedback control law to force the solution of the closed-loop system to decay exponentially to zero with arbitrarily prescribed decay rates, provided that the initial datum is small enough. Our approach relies on the construction of a suitable integral transform and can be applied to many other equations.     

Robust variance-constrained control for a class of continuous time-delay systems with parameter uncertainties

In this paper, we consider the robust variance-constrained control problem for uncertain linear continuous time-delay systems subjected to parameter uncertainties. The purpose of this multi-objective control problem is to design a static state feedback controller that does not depend on the parameter uncertainties such that the resulting closed-loop system is asymptotically stable and the steady-state variance of each state is not more than the individual pre-specified value simultaneously. Using the linear matrix inequality approach, the existence conditions of such controllers are derived. A parameterized representation of the desired controllers is presented in terms of the feasible solutions to a certain linear matrix inequality system. An illustrative numerical example is provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed results.     

Design of adaptive LQ regulators for MIMO systems based on multirate sampling of the plant output

In this paper, the certainty equivalence principle is used to combine a discrete-time adaptive law with a control structure derived from the linear-quadratic regulation problem. The proposed control structure is mainly based on multirate sampling of the output of the continuous-time plant under control and allows us to regulate the sampled closed-loop system, subject to a quadratic performance criterion, without making assumptions on the plant other than controllability and observability and the knowledge of two sets of structural indices. Using the proposed algorithm, the adaptive regulation problem is reduced to the determination of a fictitious static state feedback controller. Known techniques usually resort to the computation of fullorder adaptive state observers, thus introducing high-order exogenous dynamics in the control loop. Moreover, persistence of excitation and parameter convergence of the plant are provided without making any additional assumption on the system, as compared to known adaptive linear-quadratic regulation schemes.     

Using delays and time-varying gains to improve the static output feedback stabilizability of linear systems: a comparison

We address the output feedback stabilization problem of linearfinite-dimensional SISO systems. Limitations of static time-invariantoutput feedback on stabilizability are well known. We investigateand compare the possibilities of two recently proposed simplemodifications/generalizations of static time-invariant outputfeedback to remove such limitations. The first approach consistsof introducing a time-delay in the control law, which can betreated as an additional control parameter. The second approachconsists of making the gain time-varying. We show that bothapproaches are complementary. Existing theoretical results arebrought together in a unifying framework. Numerical proceduresfor the construction of the controllers are provided. Robustnessw.r.t. both parametric and delay uncertainty are dealt with.As an illustration the stabilizability of all second-order systemsis completely determined.     

Global stabilization of switched control systems with time delay

In this paper, the stabilization problem of switched control systems with time delay is investigated for both linear and nonlinear cases. First, a new global stabilizability concept with respect to state feedback and switching law is given. Then, based on multiple Lyapunov functions and delay inequalities, the state feedback controller and the switching law are devised to make sure that the resulting closed-loop switched control systems with time delay are globally asymptotically stable and exponentially stable.