Stochastic model predictive control for constrained networked control systems with random time delay

In this paper the continuous time stochastic constrained optimal control problem is formulated for the class of networked control systems assuming that time delays follow a discrete-time, finite Markov chain . Polytopic overapproximations of the system's trajectories are employed to produce a polyhedral inner approximation of the non-convex constraint set resulting from imposing the constraints in continuous time. The problem is cast in a Markov jump linear systems (MJLS) framework and a stochastic MPC controller is calculated explicitly, oine, coupling dynamic programming with parametric piecewise quadratic (PWQ) optimization. The calculated control law leads to stochastic stability of the closed loop system, in the mean square sense and respects the state and input constraints in continuous time

Nonlinear discrete-time systems with delayed control: a reduction

In this work, the notion of reduction is introduced for discrete-time nonlinear input-delayed systems. The retarded dynamics is reduced to a new system which is free of delays and equivalent (in terms of stabilizability) to the original one. Different stabilizing strategies are proposed over the reduced model. Connections with existing predictor-based methods are discussed. The methodology is also worked out over particular classes of time-delay systems as sampled-data dynamics affected by an entire input delay

Reduction of discrete-time two-channel delayed systems

In this letter, the reduction method is extended to time-delay systems affected by two mismatched input delays. To this end, the intrinsic feedback structure of the retarded dynamics is exploited to deduce a reduced dynamics which is free of delays. Moreover, among other possibilities, an Immersion and Invariance feedback over the reduced dynamics is designed for achieving stabilization of the original systems. A chained sampled-data dynamics is used to show the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy through simulations

Direct data‐driven design of switching controllers

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Event-triggered synchronization of saturated lur’e type systems

This dissertation addresses the problem of master-slave synchronization of nonlinear discrete-time Lur’e systems subject to input saturation via event-triggered control (ETC) techniques. Synchronization, which is considered a remarkable property in the physics literature specially when chaotic systems are under investigation, is achieved through the stabilization of the error between the states of the master and the slave system. Regarding the Lur’e type nonlinearity, two different cases are studied along this work: generic slope-restricted state-dependent nonlinearity and piecewise-affine function. In the ETC paradigm, the control signal is updated aperiodically only after the occurrence of an event, which is generated according to a triggering criterion that depends on the evaluation of a triggering function. In the emulation-based design, a synchronization error feedback controller is given a priori and the task is to compute the event generator parameters ensuring performance and closed-loop stability. On the other hand, in the co-design approach the event generator and the control law are simultaneously designed. Theoretical results are obtained for three types of event-triggered mechanism (ETM), namely: static, dynamic and relaxed. In the last case, practical synchronization conditions are derived as form of ultimately boundedness stability. In order to tune the parameters of the event-based strategy, optimization problems are formulated aiming to reduce the number of control signal updates (number of events) with respect to a time-triggered implementation. Numerical simulations are presented to illustrate the application of the proposed methods.Esta dissertação aborda o problema de sincronização mestre-escravo de sistemas Lur’e não lineares de tempo discreto sujeitos à saturação de entrada via técnicas de controle baseado em eventos. A sincronização, que é considerada uma propriedade importante na literatura de Física especialmente quando sistemas caóticos são investigados, é alcançada através da estabilização do erro entre os estados do mestre e do sistema escravo. Em relação à não linearidade do tipo Lur’e, dois casos diferentes são estudados ao longo do trabalho: não linearidade genérica dependente do estado e restrita em inclinação e função afim por partes. No paradigma de controle baseado em eventos (ETC), o sinal de controle é atualizado aperiodicamente apenas após a ocorrência de um evento, que é gerado de acordo com um critério de disparo que depende da avaliação de uma função de disparo. No projeto baseado em emulação, um controlador por realimentação do erro de sincronização é dado a priori e a tarefa é calcular os parâmetros do gerador de eventos garantindo desempenho e estabilidade em malha fechada. Na abordagem de co-design, o gerador de eventos e a lei de controle são projetados simultaneamente. Resultados teóricos são obtidos para três tipos de mecanismo de geração de eventos (ETM), nomeadamente: estático, dinâmico e relaxado. Neste último caso, condições de sincronização prática são derivadas como uma forma de estabilidade ultimamente limitada. Para sintonizar os parâmetros da estratégia baseada em eventos, problemas de otimização são formulados visando reduzir o número de atualizações do sinal de controle (número de eventos) em relação a uma implementação time-triggered. Simulações numéricas são apresentadas para ilustrar a aplicação dos métodos propostos

Model-Guided Data-Driven Optimization and Control for Internal Combustion Engine Systems

The incorporation of electronic components into modern Internal Combustion, IC, engine systems have facilitated the reduction of fuel consumption and emission from IC engine operations. As more mechanical functions are being replaced by electric or electronic devices, the IC engine systems are becoming more complex in structure. Sophisticated control strategies are called in to help the engine systems meet the drivability demands and to comply with the emission regulations. Different model-based or data-driven algorithms have been applied to the optimization and control of IC engine systems. For the conventional model-based algorithms, the accuracy of the applied system models has a crucial impact on the quality of the feedback system performance. With computable analytic solutions and a good estimation of the real physical processes, the model-based control embedded systems are able to achieve good transient performances. However, the analytic solutions of some nonlinear models are difficult to obtain. Even if the solutions are available, because of the presence of unavoidable modeling uncertainties, the model-based controllers are designed conservatively

Event-triggered control for piecewise affine discrete-time systems

In the present work, we study the problems of stability analysis of piecewise-affine (PWA) discrete-time systems, and trigger-function design for discrete-time event-triggered control systems. We propose a representation for piecewise-affine systems in terms of ramp functions, and we rely on Lyapunov theory for the stability analysis. The proposed implicit piecewise-affine representation prevents the shortcomings of the existing stability analysis approaches of PWA systems. Namely, the need to enumerate regions and allowed transitions of the explicit representations. In this context, we can emphasize two benefits of the proposed approach: first, it makes possible the analysis of uncertainty in the partition and, thus, the transitions. Secondly, it enables the analysis of event-triggered control systems for the class of PWA systems since, for ETC, the transitions cannot be determined as a function of the state variables. The proposed representation, on the other hand, implicitly encodes the partition and the transitions. The stability analysis is performed with Lyapunov theory techniques. We then present conditions for exponential stability. Thanks to the implicit representation, the use of piecewise quadratic Lyapunov functions candidates becomes simple. These conditions can be solved numerically using a linear matrix inequality formulation. The numerical analysis exploits quadratic expressions that describe ramp functions to verify the positiveness of extended quadratic forms. For ETC, a piecewise quadratic trigger function defines the event generator. We find suitable parameters for the trigger function with an optimization procedure. As a result, this function uses the information on the partition to reduce the number of events, achieving better results than the standard quadratic trigger functions found in the literature. We provide numerical examples to illustrate the application of the proposed representation and methods.Ce manuscrit présente des résultats sur l’analyse de stabilité des systèmes affines par morceaux en temps discret et sur le projet de fonctions de déclenchement pour des stratégies de commande par événements. Nous proposons une représentation pour des systèmes affines par morceaux et l’on utilise la théorie de stabilité de Lyapunov pour effectuer l’analyse de stabilité globale de l’origine. La nouvelle représentation implicite que nous proposons rend plus simple l’analyse de stabilité car elle évite l’énumération des régions et des transitions entre régions tel que c’est fait dans le cas des représentations explicites. Dans ce contexte nous pouvons souligner deux avantages principaux, à savoir I) la possibilité de traiter des incertitudes dans la partition qui définit le système et, par conséquent des incertitudes dans les transitions, II) l’analyse des stratégies de commande par événements pour des systèmes affines par morceaux. En effet, dans ces stratégies les transitions ne peuvent pas être définies comme des fonctions des variables d’état. La théorie de stabilité de Lyapunov est utilisée pour établir des conditions pour la stabilité exponentielle de l’origine. Grâce à la représentation implicite des partitions nous utilisons des fonctions de Lyapunov quadratique par morceaux. Ces conditions sont données par des inégalités dont la solution numérique est possible avec une formulation par des inégalités matricielles linéaires. Ces formulations numériques se basent sur des expressions quadratiques décrivant des fonctions rampe. Pour des stratégies par événement, une fonctions quadratique par morceaux est utilisée pour le générateur d’événements. Nous calculons les paramètres de ces fonctions de déclenchement a partir de solutions de problèmes d’optimisation. Cette fonction de déclenchement quadratique par morceaux permet de réduire le nombre de d’événementsen comparaison avec les fonctions quadratiques utilisées dans la littérature. Nous utilisons des exemples numériques pour illustrer les méthodes proposées.No presente trabalho, são estudados os problemas de análise de estabilidade de sistemas afins por partes e o projeto da função de disparo para sistemas de controle baseado em eventos em tempo discreto. É proposta uma representação para sistemas afins por partes em termos de funções rampa, e é utilizada a teoria de Lyapunov para a análise de estabilidade. A representação afim por partes implícita proposta evita algumas das deficiências das abordagens de análise de estabilidade de sistemas afins por partes existentes. Em particular, a necessidade de anumerar regiões e transições admissíveis das representações explícitas. Neste contexto, dois benefícios da abordagem proposta podem ser enfatizados: primeiro, ela torna possível a análise de incertezas na partição, e, assim, nas transições. Segundo, ela permite a análise de sistemas de controle baseado em eventos para a classe de sistemas afins por partes, já que, para o controle baseado em eventos, as transições não podem ser determinadas como uma função das variáveis de estado. A representação proposta, por outro lado, codifica implicitamente a partição e as transições. A análise de estabilidade é realizada com técnicas da teoria de Lyapunov. Condi- ções para a estabilidade exponencial são então apresentadas. Graças à representação implícita, o uso de funções candidatas de Lyapunov se torna simples. Essas condições podem ser resolvidas numéricamente usando uma formulação de desigualdades matriciais lineares. A análise numérica explora expressões quadráticas que descrevem funções de rampa para verificar a postivividade de formas quadráticas extendidas. Para o controle baseado em eventos, uma função de disparo quadrática por partes define o gerador de eventos. Parâmetros adequados para a função de disparo sãoencontrados com um procedimento de otimização. Como resultado, esta função usa informação da partição para reduzir o número de eventos, obtendo resultados melhores do que as funções de disparo quadráticas encontradas na literatura. Exemplos numéricos são fornecidos para ilustrar a aplicação da representação e mé- todos propostos

Identification of nonlinear interconnected systems

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Master of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.In this work we address the problem of identifying a discrete-time nonlinear system composed of a linear dynamical system connected to a static nonlinear component. We use linear fractional representation to provide a united framework for the identification of two classes of such systems. The first class consists of discrete-time systems consists of a linear time invariant system connected to a continuous nonlinear static component. The identification problem of estimating the unknown parameters of the linear system and simultaneously fitting a math order spline to the nonlinear data is addressed. A simple and tractable algorithm based on the separable least squares method is proposed for estimating the parameters of the linear and the nonlinear components. We also provide a sufficient condition on data for consistency of the identification algorithm. Numerical examples illustrate the performance of the algorithm. Further, we examine a second class of systems that may involve a nonlinear static element of a more complex structure. The nonlinearity may not be continuous and is approximated by piecewise a±ne maps defined on different convex polyhedra, which are defined by linear combinations of lagged inputs and outputs. An iterative identification procedure is proposed, which alternates the estimation of the linear and the nonlinear subsystems. Standard identification techniques are applied to the linear subsystem, whereas recently developed piecewise affine system identification techniques are employed for the estimation of the nonlinear component. Numerical examples show that the proposed procedure is able to successfully profit from the knowledge of the interconnection structure, in comparison with a direct black box identification of the piecewise a±ne system.Funding was obtained as a Marie Curie Early Stage Researcher Training fellowship, under the NET-ACE project (MEST-CT-2004-6724)

Formal methods for resilient control

Many systems operate in uncertain, possibly adversarial environments, and their successful operation is contingent upon satisfying specific requirements, optimal performance, and ability to recover from unexpected situations. Examples are prevalent in many engineering disciplines such as transportation, robotics, energy, and biological systems. This thesis studies designing correct, resilient, and optimal controllers for discrete-time complex systems from elaborate, possibly vague, specifications. The first part of the contributions of this thesis is a framework for optimal control of non-deterministic hybrid systems from specifications described by signal temporal logic (STL), which can express a broad spectrum of interesting properties. The method is optimization-based and has several advantages over the existing techniques. When satisfying the specification is impossible, the degree of violation - characterized by STL quantitative semantics - is minimized. The computational limitations are discussed. The focus of second part is on specific types of systems and specifications for which controllers are synthesized efficiently. A class of monotone systems is introduced for which formal synthesis is scalable and almost complete. It is shown that hybrid macroscopic traffic models fall into this class. Novel techniques in modular verification and synthesis are employed for distributed optimal control, and their usefulness is shown for large-scale traffic management. Apart from monotone systems, a method is introduced for robust constrained control of networked linear systems with communication constraints. Case studies on longitudinal control of vehicular platoons are presented. The third part is about learning-based control with formal guarantees. Two approaches are studied. First, a formal perspective on adaptive control is provided in which the model is represented by a parametric transition system, and the specification is captured by an automaton. A correct-by-construction framework is developed such that the controller infers the actual parameters and plans accordingly for all possible future transitions and inferences. The second approach is based on hybrid model identification using input-output data. By assuming some limited knowledge of the range of system behaviors, theoretical performance guarantees are provided on implementing the controller designed for the identified model on the original unknown system