Geometric algorithms for input constrained systems with application to flight control.

In this thesis novel numerical algorithms are developed to solve some problems of analysis and control design for unstable linear dynamical systems having their input constrained by maximum amplitude and rate of the control signals. Although the results obtained are of a general nature, all the problems considered are induced by flight control applications. Moreover, all these problems are stated in terms of geometry, and because of this their solution in the thesis was effectively achieved by geometrically-oriented methods. The problems considered are mainly connected with the notions of the controllable and stability regions. The controllable region is defined as the set of states of an unstable dynamical system that can be stabilized by some realizable control action. This region is bounded due to input constraints and its size can serve as a controllability measure for the control design problem. A numerical algorithm for the computation of two-dimensional slices of the region is proposed. Moreover, the stability region design is also considered. The stability region of the closed-loop system is the set of states that can be stabilized by a particular controller. This region generally utilizes only a part of the controllable region. Therefore, the controller design objective may be formulated as maximizing this region. A controller that is optimal in this sense is proposed for the case of one and two exponentially unstable open-loop eigenvalues. In the final part of the thesis a linear control allocation problem is considered for overactuated systems and its real-time solution is suggested. Using the control allocation, the actuator selection task is separated from the regulation task in the control design. All fault detection and reconfiguration capabilities are concentrated in one special unit called the control allocator, while a general control algorithm, which produces 'virtual' input for the system, remains intact. In the case of an actuator fault, only the control allocation unit needs to be reconfigured and in many cases it can generate the same 'virtual' input using a different set of control effectors. A novel control allocation algorithm, which is proposed in the thesis, is based on multidimensional interval bisection techniques

Decentralized and Fault-Tolerant Control of Power Systems with High Levels of Renewables

Inter-area oscillations have been identified as a major problem faced by most power systems and stability of these oscillations are of vital concern due to the potential for equipment damage and resulting restrictions on available transmission capacity. In recent years, wide-area measurement systems (WAMSs) have been deployed that allow inter-area modes to be observed and identified.Power grids consist of interconnections of many subsystems which may interact with their neighbors and include several sensors and actuator arrays. Modern grids are spatially distributed and centralized strategies are computationally expensive and might be impractical in terms of hardware limitations such as communication speed. Hence, decentralized control strategies are more desirable.Recently, the use of HVDC links, FACTS devices and renewable sources for damping of inter-area oscillations have been discussed in the literature. However, very few such systems have been deployed in practice partly due to the high level of robustness and reliability requirements for any closed loop power system controls. For instance, weather dependent sources such as distributed winds have the ability to provide services only within a narrow range and might not always be available due to weather, maintenance or communication failures.Given this background, the motivation of this work is to ensure power grid resiliency and improve overall grid reliability. The first consideration is the design of optimal decentralized controllers where decisions are based on a subset of total information. The second consideration is to design controllers that incorporate actuator limitations to guarantee the stability and performance of the system. The third consideration is to build robust controllers to ensure resiliency to different actuator failures and availabilities. The fourth consideration is to design distributed, fault-tolerant and cooperative controllers to address above issues at the same time. Finally, stability problem of these controllers with intermittent information transmission is investigated.To validate the feasibility and demonstrate the design principles, a set of comprehensive case studies are conducted based on different power system models including 39-bus New England system and modified Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) system with different operating points, renewable penetration and failures

Active Flutter Suppression of a Two-Dimensional Airfoil with Actuator Saturation

This paper presents a systematic methodology to evaluate the feasibility of suppressing airplane flutter instabilities through the actively controlled closed-loop actuation of control surfaces in presence of actuator deflection constraints. When active flutter suppression proves to be feasible, the methodology synthesizes a preliminary feedback law able to augment flutter stability of the aeroelastic model under investigation. If active flutter suppression proves to be not viable due to the physical limitations imposed by actuator deflection saturation, the methodology can be employed in a parametric manner to define the actuator performance requirements that would take to implement active flutter suppression. The theoretical background of the methodology is presented and its implementation is validated employing the generic twodimensional wing section of Theodorsen

Constrained control using convex optimization

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 1997.Includes bibliographical references (p. 113-121).by John Marc Shewchun.M.S

Online regulations of low order systems under bounded control

Time-optimal solutions provide us with the fastest means to regulate a system in presence of input constraints. This advantage of time-optimal control solutions is offset by the fact that their real-time implementation involves computationally intensive iterative techniques. Moreover, time-optimal controls depend on the initial state and have to be recalculated for even the slightest perturbation. Clearly time-optimal controls are not good candidates for online regulation. Consequently, the search for alternatives to time-optimal solutions is a very active area of research. The work described here is inspired by the simplicity of optimal-aim concept. The "optimal-aim strategies" provide online regulation in presence of bounded inputs with minimal computational effort. These are based purely on state-space geometry of the plant and are inherently adaptive in nature. Optimal-aim techniques involve aiming of trajectory derivative (or the state velocity vector) so as to approach the equilibrium state in the best possible manner. This thesis documents the efforts to develop an online regulation algorithm for systems with input constraints. Through a number of hypotheses focussed on trying to reproduce the exact time-optimal solution, the diffculty associated with this task is demonstrated. A modification of optimal-aim concept is employed to develop a novel regulation algorithm. In this algorithm, aim directions are chosen in a special manner to generate the time-optimal control approximately. The control scheme thus developed is shown to be globally stabilizing for systems having eigenvalues in the CLHP (closed left half-plane). It is expected that this method or its modifications can be extended to higher dimensional systems as a part of future research. An alternative control algorithm involving a simple state-space aiming concept is also developed and discussed