Flat systems, equivalence and trajectory generation

Flat systems, an important subclass of nonlinear control systems introduced via differential-algebraic methods, are defined in a differential geometric framework. We utilize the infinite dimensional geometry developed by Vinogradov and coworkers: a control system is a diffiety, or more precisely, an ordinary diffiety, i.e. a smooth infinite-dimensional manifold equipped with a privileged vector field. After recalling the definition of a Lie-Backlund mapping, we say that two systems are equivalent if they are related by a Lie-Backlund isomorphism. Flat systems are those systems which are equivalent to a controllable linear one. The interest of such an abstract setting relies mainly on the fact that the above system equivalence is interpreted in terms of endogenous dynamic feedback. The presentation is as elementary as possible and illustrated by the VTOL aircraft

Flat systems, equivalence and trajectory generation

3rd cycleIntroduction : Control systems are ubiquitous in modern technology. The use of feedback control can be found in systems ranging from simple thermostats that regulate the temperature of a room, to digital engine controllers that govern the operation of engines in cars, ships, and planes, to flight control systems for high performance aircraft. The rapid advances in sensing, computation, and actuation technologies is continuing to drive this trend and the role of control theory in advanced (and even not so advanced) systems is increasing..

Optimal Control of Unknown Nonlinear System From Inputoutput Data

Optimal control designers usually require a plant model to design a controller. The problem is the controller\u27s performance heavily depends on the accuracy of the plant model. However, in many situations, it is very time-consuming to implement the system identification procedure and an accurate structure of a plant model is very difficult to obtain. On the other hand, neuro-fuzzy models with product inference engine, singleton fuzzifier, center average defuzzifier, and Gaussian membership functions can be easily trained by many well-established learning algorithms based on given input-output data pairs. Therefore, this kind of model is used in the current optimal controller design. Two approaches of designing optimal controllers of unknown nonlinear systems based on neuro-fuzzy models are presented in the thesis. The first approach first utilizes neuro-fuzzy models to approximate the unknown nonlinear systems, and then the feasible-direction algorithm is used to achieve the numerical solution of the Euler-Lagrange equations of the formulated optimal control problem. This algorithm uses the steepest descent to find the search direction and then apply a one-dimensional search routine to find the best step length. Finally several nonlinear optimal control problems are simulated and the results show that the performance of the proposed approach is quite similar to that of optimal control to the system represented by an explicit mathematical model. However, due to the limitation of the feasible-direction algorithm, this method cannot be applied to highly nonlinear and dimensional plants. Therefore, another approach that can overcome these drawbacks is proposed. This method utilizes Takagi-Sugeno (TS) fuzzy models to design the optimal controller. TS fuzzy models are first derived from the direct linearization of the neuro-fuzzy models, which is close to the local linearization of the nonlinear dynamic systems. The operating points are chosen so that the TS fuzzy model is a good approximation of the neuro-fuzzy model. Based on the TS fuzzy model, the optimal control is implemented for a nonlinear two-link flexible robot and a rigid asymmetric spacecraft, thus providing the possibility of implementing the well-established optimal control method on unknown nonlinear dynamic systems

Finite time Synchronization of Inertial Memristive Neural Networks with Time Varying Delay

Finite time synchronization control of inertial memristor-based neural networks with varying delay is considered. In view of drive and response concept, the sufficient conditions to ensure finite time synchronization issue of inertial memristive neural networks is given. Based on Lyapunov finite time asymptotic theory, a kind of feedback controllers is designed for inertial memristorbased neural networks to realize the finite time synchronization. Based on Lyapunov stability theory, close loop error system can be proved finite time and fixed time stable. Finally, illustrative example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of theoretical results

Neural Network-based Finite-time Control of Nonlinear Systems with Unknown Dead-zones: Application to Quadrotors

Over the years, researchers have addressed several control problems of various classes of nonlinear systems. This article considers a class of uncertain strict feedback nonlinear system with unknown external disturbances and asymmetric input dead-zone. Designing a tracking controller for such system is very complex and challenging. This article aims to design a finite-time adaptive neural network backstepping tracking control for the nonlinear system under consideration. In addition,  all unknown disturbances and nonlinear functions are lumped together and approximated by radial basis function neural network (RBFNN). Moreover, no prior  information about the boundedness of the dead-zone parameters is required in the controller design. With the aid of a Lyapunov candidate function, it has been shown that the tracking errors converge near the origin in finite-time. Simulation results testify that the proposed control approach can force the output to follow the reference trajectory in a short time despite the presence of  asymmetric input dead-zone and external disturbances. At last, in order to highlight the effectiveness of the proposed control method, it is applied to a quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)

On the impulsive synchronization control for a class of chaotic systems

The problem on chaos synchronization for a class of chaotic system is addressed. Based on impulsive control theory and by constructing a novel Lyapunov functional, new impulsive synchronization strategies are presented and possess more practical application value. Finally some typical numerical simulation examples are included to demonstrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results

Optimization based control design techniques for distributed parameter systems

The study presents optimization based control design techniques for the systems that are governed by partial differential equations. A control technique is developed for systems that are actuated at the boundary. The principles of dynamic inversion and constrained optimization theory are used to formulate a feedback controller. This control technique is demonstrated for heat equations and thermal convection loops. This technique is extended to address a practical issue of parameter uncertainty in a class of systems. An estimator is defined for unknown parameters in the system. The Lyapunov stability theory is used to derive an update law of these parameters. The estimator is used to design an adaptive controller for the system. A second control technique is presented for a class of second order systems that are actuated in-domain. The technique of proper orthogonal decomposition is used first to develop an approximate model. This model is then used to design optimal feedback controller. Approximate dynamic programming based neural network architecture is used to synthesize a sub-optimal controller. This control technique is demonstrated to stabilize the heave dynamics of a flexible aircraft wings. The third technique is focused on the optimal control of stationary thermally convected fluid flows from the numerical point of view. To overcome the computational requirement, optimization is carried out using reduced order model. The technique of proper orthogonal decomposition is used to develop reduced order model. An example of chemical vapor deposition reactor is considered to examine this control technique --Abstract, page iii

Adaptive Stabilization of Stochastic Nonlinear Systems Disturbed by Unknown Time Delay and Covariance Noise

This paper considers a more general stochastic nonlinear time-delay system driven by unknown covariance noise and investigates its adaptive state-feedback control problem. As a remarkable feature, the growth assumptions imposed on delay-dependent nonlinear terms are removed. Then, with the help of Lyapunov-Krasovskii functionals and adaptive backstepping technique, an adaptive state-feedback controller is constructed by overcoming the negative effects brought by unknown time delay and covariance noise. Based on the designed controller, the closed-loop system can be guaranteed to be globally asymptotically stable (GAS) in probability. Finally, a simulation example demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed scheme

Stabilisation of Time Delay Systems with Nonlinear Disturbances Using Sliding Mode Control

This paper focuses on a class of control systems with delayed states and nonlinear disturbances using sliding mode techniques. Both matched and mismatched uncertainties are considered which are assumed to be bounded by known nonlinear functions. The bounds are used in the control design and analysis to reduce conservatism. A sliding function is designed and a set of sufficient conditions is derived to guarantee the asymptotic stability of the corresponding sliding motion by using the Lyapunov-Razumikhin approach which allows large time varying delay with fast changing rate. A delay dependent sliding mode control is synthesised to drive the system to the sliding surface in finite time and maintain a sliding motion thereafter. Effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated via a case study on a continuous stirred tank reactor system