New advances in H∞ control and filtering for nonlinear systems

The main objective of this special issue is to summarise recent advances in H∞ control and filtering for nonlinear systems, including time-delay, hybrid and stochastic systems. The published papers provide new ideas and approaches, clearly indicating the advances made in problem statements, methodologies or applications with respect to the existing results. The special issue also includes papers focusing on advanced and non-traditional methods and presenting considerable novelties in theoretical background or experimental setup. Some papers present applications to newly emerging fields, such as network-based control and estimation

On stabilizability of switched differential algebraic equations

This paper considers stabilizability of switched differential algebraic equations (DAEs). We first introduce the notion of interval stabilizability and show that under a certain uniformity assumption, stabilizability can be concluded from interval stabilizability. A geometric approach is taken to find necessary and sufficient conditions for interval stabilizability. This geometric approach can also be utilized to derive a novel characterization of controllability

Robust fault estimation based on zonotopic Kalman filter for discrete-time descriptor systems

This paper proposes a set-based approach for robust fault estimation of discrete-time descriptor systems. The considered descriptor systems are subject to unknown-but-bounded uncertainties (state disturbances and measurement noise) in predefined zonotopes and additive actuator faults. The zonotopic fault estimation filter for descriptor systems is built based on fault detectability indices and matrix to estimate fault magnitude in a deterministic set. The zonotopic fault estimation filter gain is designed in a parameterized form. Within a set-based framework, following the zonotopic Kalman filter, the optimal filter gain is computed by minimizing the size of the corresponding zonotopes to achieve robustness against uncertainties and the identification of occurred actuator faults. Besides, boundedness of the proposed zonotopic fault estimation is analyzed, which proves that the size of obtained fault estimation bounds is not growing in time. Finally, the simulation results with two application examples are provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Reliable control using redundant controllers

This paper presents a methodology for the design of reliable control systems by using multiple identical controllers to a given plant. The resulting closed-loop control system is reliable in the sense that it provides guaranteed internal stability and H ∞ performance (in terms of disturbance attenuation), not only when all controllers are operational but also when some controller outages (sensor and/or actuator) occur. A numerical example is given to illustrate the proposed design procedures.published_or_final_versio

Advances in state estimation, diagnosis and control of complex systems

This dissertation intends to provide theoretical and practical contributions on estimation, diagnosis and control of complex systems, especially in the mathematical form of descriptor systems. The research is motivated by real applications, such as water networks and power systems, which require a control system to provide a proper management able to take into account their specific features and operating limits in presence of uncertainties related to their operation and failures from component malfunctions. Such a control system is expected to provide an optimal operation to obtain efficient and reliable performance. State estimation is an essential tool, which can be used not only for fault diagnosis but also for the controller design. To achieve a satisfactory robust performance, set theory is chosen to build a general framework for descriptor systems subject to uncertainties. Under certain assumptions, these uncertainties are propagated and bounded by deterministic sets that can be explicitly characterized at each iteration step. Moreover, set-invariance characterizations for descriptor systems are also of interest to describe the steady performance, which can also be used for active mode detection. For the controller design for complex systems, new developments of economic model predictive control (EMPC) are studied taking into account the case of underlying periodic behaviors. The EMPC controller is designed to be recursively feasible even with sudden changes in the economic cost function and the closed-loop convergence is guaranteed. Besides, a robust technique is plugged into the EMPC controller design to maintain these closed-loop properties in presence of uncertainties. Engineering applications modeled as descriptor systems are presented to illustrate these control strategies. From the real applications, some additional difficulties are solved, such as using a two-layer control strategy to avoid binary variables in real-time optimizations and using nonlinear constraint relaxation to deal with nonlinear algebraic equations in the descriptor model. Furthermore, the fault-tolerant capability is also included in the controller design for descriptor systems by means of the designed virtual actuator and virtual sensor together with an observer-based delayed controller.Esta tesis propone contribuciones de carácter teórico y aplicado para la estimación del estado, el diagnóstico y el control óptimo de sistemas dinámicos complejos en particular, para los sistemas descriptores, incluyendo la capacidad de tolerancia a fallos. La motivación de la tesis proviene de aplicaciones reales, como redes de agua y sistemas de energía, cuya naturaleza crítica requiere necesariamente un sistema de control para una gestión capaz de tener en cuenta sus características específicas y límites operativos en presencia de incertidumbres relacionadas con su funcionamiento, así como fallos de funcionamiento de los componentes. El objetivo es conseguir controladores que mejoren tanto la eficiencia como la fiabilidad de dichos sistemas. La estimación del estado es una herramienta esencial que puede usarse no solo para el diagnóstico de fallos sino también para el diseño del control. Con este fin, se ha decidido utilizar metodologías intervalares, o basadas en conjuntos, para construir un marco general para los sistemas de descriptores sujetos a incertidumbres desconocidas pero acotadas. Estas incertidumbres se propagan y delimitan mediante conjuntos que se pueden caracterizar explícitamente en cada instante. Por otra parte, también se proponen caracterizaciones basadas en conjuntos invariantes para sistemas de descriptores que permiten describir comportamientos estacionarios y resultan útiles para la detección de modos activos. Se estudian también nuevos desarrollos del control predictivo económico basado en modelos (EMPC) para tener en cuenta posibles comportamientos periódicos en la variación de parámetros o en las perturbaciones que afectan a estos sistemas. Además, se demuestra que el control EMPC propuesto garantiza la factibilidad recursiva, incluso frente a cambios repentinos en la función de coste económico y se garantiza la convergencia en lazo cerrado. Por otra parte, se utilizan técnicas de control robusto pata garantizar que las estrategias de control predictivo económico mantengan las prestaciones en lazo cerrado, incluso en presencia de incertidumbre. Los desarrollos de la tesis se ilustran con casos de estudio realistas. Para algunas de aplicaciones reales, se resuelven dificultades adicionales, como el uso de una estrategia de control de dos niveles para evitar incluir variables binarias en la optimización y el uso de la relajación de restricciones no lineales para tratar las ecuaciones algebraicas no lineales en el modelo descriptor en las redes de agua. Finalmente, se incluye también una contribución al diseño de estrategias de control con tolerancia a fallos para sistemas descriptores