EASILY VERIFIABLE CONTROLLER DESIGN WITH APPLICATION TO AUTOMOTIVE POWERTRAINS

Bridging the gap between designed and implemented model-based controllers is a major challenge in the design cycle of industrial controllers. This gap is mainly created due to (i) digital implementation of controller software that introduces sampling and quantization imprecisions via analog-to-digital conversion (ADC), and (ii) uncertainties in the modeled plant’s dynamics, which directly propagate through the controller structure. The failure to identify and handle these implementation and model uncertainties results in undesirable controller performance and costly iterative loops for completing the controller verification and validation (V&V) process. This PhD dissertation develops a novel theoretical framework to design controllers that are robust to implementation imprecision and uncertainties within the models. The proposed control framework is generic and applicable to a wide range of nonlinear control systems. The final outcome from this study is an uncertainty/imprecisions adaptive, easily verifiable, and robust control theory framework that minimizes V&V iterations in the design of complex nonlinear control systems. The concept of sliding mode controls (SMC) is used in this study as the baseline to construct an easily verifiable model-based controller design framework. SMC is a robust and computationally efficient controller design technique for highly nonlinear systems, in the presence of model and external uncertainties. The SMC structure allows for further modification to improve the controller robustness against implementation imprecisions, and compensate for the uncertainties within the plant model. First, the conventional continuous-time SMC design is improved by: (i) developing a reduced-order controller based on a novel model order reduction technique. The reduced order SMC shows better performance, since it uses a balanced realization form of the plant model and reduces the destructive internal interaction among different states of the system. (ii) developing an uncertainty-adaptive SMC with improved robustness against implementation imprecisions. Second, the continuous-time SMC design is converted to a discrete-time SMC (DSMC). The baseline first order DSMC structure is improved by: (i) inclusion of the ADC imprecisions knowledge via a generic sampling and quantization uncertainty prediction mechanism which enables higher robustness against implementation imprecisions, (ii) deriving the adaptation laws via a Lyapunov stability analysis to overcome uncertainties within the plant model, and (iii) developing a second order adaptive DSMC with predicted ADC imprecisions, which provides faster and more robust performance under modeling and implementation imprecisions, in comparison with the first order DSMC. The developed control theories from this PhD dissertation have been evaluated in real-time for two automotive powertrain case studies, including highly nonlinear combustion engine, and linear DC motor control problems. Moreover, the DSMC with predicted ADC imprecisions is experimentally tested and verified on an electronic air throttle body testbed for model-based position tracking purpose

On Vibration Suppression and Trajectory Tracking in Largely Uncertain Torsional System: An Error-based ADRC Approach

In this work, a practically relevant control problem of compensating harmonic uncertainties is tackled. The problem is formulated and solved here using an active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) methodology. A novel, custom ADRC structure is proposed that utilizes an innovative resonant extended state observer (RESO), dedicated to systems subjected to harmonic interferences. In order to make the introduced solution more industry-friendly, the entire observer-centered control topology is additionally restructured into one degree-of-freedom, compact, feedback error-based form (similar to ubiquitous in practice PID controller). Such reorganization enables a straightforward implementation and commission of the proposed technique in wide range of industrial control platforms, thus potentially increasing its outreach. In order to verify the efficiency of the introduced method, a multi-criteria experimental case study using a torsional plant is conducted in a trajectory tracking task, showing satisfactory performance in vibration suppression, without the often problem of noise amplification due to high observer/controller gains. Finally, a frequency analysis and a rigorous stability proof of the proposed control structure are given

Recent Advances in Robust Control

Robust control has been a topic of active research in the last three decades culminating in H_2/H_\infty and \mu design methods followed by research on parametric robustness, initially motivated by Kharitonov's theorem, the extension to non-linear time delay systems, and other more recent methods. The two volumes of Recent Advances in Robust Control give a selective overview of recent theoretical developments and present selected application examples. The volumes comprise 39 contributions covering various theoretical aspects as well as different application areas. The first volume covers selected problems in the theory of robust control and its application to robotic and electromechanical systems. The second volume is dedicated to special topics in robust control and problem specific solutions. Recent Advances in Robust Control will be a valuable reference for those interested in the recent theoretical advances and for researchers working in the broad field of robotics and mechatronics

Design of Sliding Mode PID Controller with Improved reaching laws for Nonlinear Systems

In this thesis, advanced design technique in sliding mode control (SMC) is presented with focus on PID (Proportional-Integral-Derivative) type Sliding surfaces based Sliding mode control with improved power rate exponential reaching law for Non-linear systems using Modified Particle Swarm Optimization (MPSO). To handle large non-linearities directly, sliding mode controller based on PID-type sliding surface has been designed in this work, where Integral term ensures fast finite convergence time. The controller parameter for various modified structures can be estimated using Modified PSO, which is used as an offline optimization technique. Various reaching law were implemented leading to the proposed improved exponential power rate reaching law, which also improves the finite convergence time. To implement the proposed algorithm, nonlinear mathematical model has to be decrypted without linearizing, and used for the simulation purposes. Their performance is studied using simulations to prove the proposed behavior. The problem of chattering has been overcome by using boundary method and also second order sliding mode method. PI-type sliding surface based second order sliding mode controller with PD surface based SMC compensation is also proposed and implemented. The proposed algorithms have been analyzed using Lyapunov stability criteria. The robustness of the method is provided using simulation results including disturbance and 10% variation in system parameters. Finally process control based hardware is implemented (conical tank system)

A Model-Free Approach for Accurate Joint Motion Control in Humanoid Locomotion

A new model-free approach to precisely control humanoid robot joints is presented in this article. An input&-output online identification procedure will permit to compensate neglected or uncertain dynamics, such as, on the one hand, transmission and compliance nonlinear effects, and, on the other hand, network transmission delays. Robustness toparameter variations will be analyzed and compared to other advanced PID-based controllers. Simulations will show that not only good tracking quality can be obtained with this novel technique, but also that it provides a very robust behavior to the closed-loop system. Furthermore, a locomotion task will be tested in a complete humanoid simulatorto highlight the suitability of this control approach for such complex systems.This work has been supported by the CAM Project S2009/DPI-1559/ROBOCITY2030 II, developed by the research team RoboticsLab at the University Carlos III of Madrid.Publicad

Backpropagating constraints-based trajectory tracking control of a quadrotor with constrained actuator dynamics and complex unknowns

In this paper, a backpropagating constraints-based trajectory tracking control (BCTTC) scheme is addressed for trajectory tracking of a quadrotor with complex unknowns and cascade constraints arising from constrained actuator dynamics, including saturations and dead zones. The entire quadrotor system including actuator dynamics is decomposed into five cascade subsystems connected by intermediate saturated nonlinearities. By virtue of the cascade structure, backpropagating constraints (BCs) on intermediate signals are derived from constrained actuator dynamics suffering from nonreversible rotations and nonnegative squares of rotors, and decouple subsystems with saturated connections. Combining with sliding-mode errors, BC-based virtual controls are individually designed by addressing underactuation and cascade constraints. In order to remove smoothness requirements on intermediate controls, first-order filters are employed, and thereby contributing to backstepping-like subcontrollers synthesizing in a recursive manner. Moreover, universal adaptive compensators are exclusively devised to dominate intermediate tracking residuals and complex unknowns. Eventually, the closed-loop BCTTC system stability can be ensured by the Lyapunov synthesis, and trajectory tracking errors can be made arbitrarily small. Simulation studies demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed BCTTC scheme for a quadrotor with complex constrains and unknowns