A new time-discretization for delay multiple-input nonlinear systems using the Taylor method and first order hold

A new discretization method is proposed for multi-input-driven nonlinear continuous systems with time-delays, based on a combination of the Taylor series expansion and the first-order hold (FOH) assumption. The mathematical structure of the new discretization scheme is explored. On the basis of this structure, the sampled-data representation of the time-delayed multi-input nonlinear system is derived. First the new approach is applied to nonlinear systems with two inputs, and then the delayed multi-input general equation is derived. The resulting time discretization method provides a finite-dimensional representation for multi-input nonlinear systems with time-delays, thereby enabling the application of existing controller design techniques to such systems. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated using a nonlinear system with time-delays (maneuvering an automobile). Various sampling rates, time-delay values and control inputs are considered to evaluate the proposed method. The results demonstrate that the proposed discretization scheme can meet the system requirements even when using a large sampling period with precision limitations. The discretization results of the FOH method are also compared with those of the zero order hold (ZOH) method. The precision of the FOH method in the discretization procedure combined with the Taylor series expansion is much higher than that of the ZOH method except in the case of constant inputs.