Control of flexible joint robotic manipulator using tuning functions design

The goal of this thesis is to design the controller for a single arm manipulator having a flexible joint for the tracking problem in two different cases. A controller is designed for a deterministic case wherein the plant parameters are assumed to be known while another is designed for an adaptive case where all the plant parameters are assumed to be unknown. In general the tracking problem is; given a smooth reference trajectory, the end effector has to track the reference while maintaining the stability. It is assumed that only the output of the manipulator, which is the link angle, is available for measurement. Also without loss of generality, the fast dynamics, that is the dynamics of the driver side of the system are neglected for the sake of simplicity; In the first case, the design procedure adopted is called observer backstepping. Since the states of the system are unavailable for measurement, an observer is designed that estimates the system states. These estimates are fed to the controller which in turn produces the control input to the system; The second case employs a design procedure called tuning functions design. In this case, since the plant parameters are unknown, the observer designed in case one cannot be used for determining the state estimates. For this purpose, parameter update laws and filters are designed for estimation of plant parameters. The filters employed are k-filters. The k-filters and the parameter update laws are given as input to the controller, which generates the control input to the system; For both cases, the mathematical models are simulated using Matlab/Simulink, and the results are verified

Nonlinear and adaptive control

The primary thrust of the research was to conduct fundamental research in the theories and methodologies for designing complex high-performance multivariable feedback control systems; and to conduct feasibiltiy studies in application areas of interest to NASA sponsors that point out advantages and shortcomings of available control system design methodologies

Convergence analysis of estimated parameters for parametric nonlinear strict feedback system with unknown control direction

In this paper, the adaptive control and parameters identification problems are investigated for a class of linearly parametric strict feedback system with unknown control direction. Firstly, by using backstepping design procedure, the adaptive tracking control scheme combined with Nussbaum gain function is proposed. In the controller, the adaptive law of estimated parameters is derived from Lyapunov stability theorem and Nussbaum-type function. All the signals in closed-loop system are proved to be bounded. Secondly, the identification of unknown parameters in the strict feedback system with unknown control direction is studied. By constructing a novel Lyapunov function, a sufficient condition (PE condition), which can guarantee that the parameters estimation converge to the actual values of parameters, is obtained for the first time. Also, it is more simplified than the existing results on PE. Under the PE condition proposed here, it is shown that the parameters estimation errors are convergent to zero asymptotically by using Nussbaum function technique and Barbalat's lemma. Finally, illustrated examples are given to demonstrate the main results

Adaptive model predictive control

The problem of model predictive control (MPC) under parametric uncertainties for a class of nonlinear systems is addressed. An adaptive identi er is used to estimate the pa- rameters and the state variables simultaneously. The algorithm proposed guarantees the convergence of parameters and the state variables to their true value. The task is posed as an adaptive model predictive control problem in which the controller is required to steer the system to the system setpoint that optimizes a user-speci ed objective function. The technique of adaptive model predictive control is developed for two broad classes of systems. The rst class of system considered is a class of uncertain nonlinear systems with input to state stability property. Using a generalization of the set-based adaptive estimation technique, the estimates of the parameters and state are updated to guarantee convergence to a neighborhood of their true value. The second involves a method of determining appropriate excitation conditions for nonlin- ear systems. Since the identi cation of the true cost surface is paramount to the success of the integration scheme, novel parameter estimation techniques with better convergence properties are developed. The estimation routine allows exact reconstruction of the systems unknown parameters in nite-time. The applicability of the identi er to improve upon the performance of existing adaptive controllers is demonstrated. Then, an adaptive nonlinear model predictive controller strategy is integrated to this estimation algorithm in which ro- bustness features are incorporated to account for the e ect of the model uncertainty. To study the practical applicability of the developed method, the estimation of state vari- ables and unknown parameters in a stirred tank process has been performed. The results of the experimental application demonstrate the ability of the proposed techniques to estimate the state variables and parameters of an uncertain practical system.Departamento de Ingeniería de Sistemas y AutomáticaMáster en Investigación en Ingeniería de Procesos y Sistemas Industriale