Nonlinear dynamics and control of a variable order oscillator with application to the van der Pol equation

We investigate the dynamics and control of a nonlinear oscillator that is described mathematically by a Variable Order Differential Equation (VODE). The dynamic problem in question arises from the dynamical analysis of a variable viscoelasticity oscillator. The dynamics of the model and the behavior of the variable order differintegrals are shown in variable phase space for different parameters. Two different controllers are developed for the VODEs under study in order to track an arbitrary reference function. A generalization of the van der Pol equation using the VODE formulation is analyzed under the light of the methods introduced in this work.