Robust control of systems with real parameter uncertainty and unmodelled dynamics

During this research period we have made significant progress in the four proposed areas: (1) design of robust controllers via H infinity optimization; (2) design of robust controllers via mixed H2/H infinity optimization; (3) M-delta structure and robust stability analysis for structured uncertainties; and (4) a study on controllability and observability of perturbed plant. It is well known now that the two-Riccati-equation solution to the H infinity control problem can be used to characterize all possible stabilizing optimal or suboptimal H infinity controllers if the optimal H infinity norm or gamma, an upper bound of a suboptimal H infinity norm, is given. In this research, we discovered some useful properties of these H infinity Riccati solutions. Among them, the most prominent one is that the spectral radius of the product of these two Riccati solutions is a continuous, nonincreasing, convex function of gamma in the domain of interest. Based on these properties, quadratically convergent algorithms are developed to compute the optimal H infinity norm. We also set up a detailed procedure for applying the H infinity theory to robust control systems design. The desire to design controllers with H infinity robustness but H(exp 2) performance has recently resulted in mixed H(exp 2) and H infinity control problem formulation. The mixed H(exp 2)/H infinity problem have drawn the attention of many investigators. However, solution is only available for special cases of this problem. We formulated a relatively realistic control problem with H(exp 2) performance index and H infinity robustness constraint into a more general mixed H(exp 2)/H infinity problem. No optimal solution yet is available for this more general mixed H(exp 2)/H infinity problem. Although the optimal solution for this mixed H(exp 2)/H infinity control has not yet been found, we proposed a design approach which can be used through proper choice of the available design parameters to influence both robustness and performance. For a large class of linear time-invariant systems with real parametric perturbations, the coefficient vector of the characteristic polynomial is a multilinear function of the real parameter vector. Based on this multilinear mapping relationship together with the recent developments for polytopic polynomials and parameter domain partition technique, we proposed an iterative algorithm for coupling the real structured singular value

Impulse controllability of switched differential-algebraic equations

This paper addresses impulse controllability of switched DAEs on a finite interval. First we present a forward approach where we define certain subspaces forward in time. These subpsaces are then used to provide a sufficient condition for impulse controllability. In order to obtain a full characterization we present afterwards a backward approach, where a sequence of subspaces is defined backwards in time. With the help of the last element of this backward sequence, we are able to fully characterize impulse controllability. All results are geometric results and thus independent of a coordinate system

Impulse controllability of switched differential-algebraic equations

This paper addresses impulse controllability of switched DAEs on a finite interval. First we present a forward approach where we define certain subspaces forward in time. These subpsaces are then used to provide a sufficient condition for impulse controllability. In order to obtain a full characterization we present afterwards a backward approach, where a sequence of subspaces is defined backwards in time. With the help of the last element of this backward sequence, we are able to fully characterize impulse controllability. All results are geometric results and thus independent of a coordinate system

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

Stabilizability and optimal control of switched differential algebraic equations

In this thesis control of dynamical systems with switches is considered. Examples of such systems are electronic circuits and mechanical systems. The switches are induced by abrupt structural changes due to component failure or physical switches. In the case of constraints on the dynamics, the state of the system can only take certain values and not only differential equations are involved in modeling the system, but also algebraic equations. An important question in control problems is often how well a certain controller performs. Some controllers require little energy, but induce undesired behavior of the system, whereas others perform well in terms of the systems behavior but require a lot of energy. It turns out that in general an optimal controller does not exist. However, necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of optimal controller given a quadratic cost functional are presented in this thesis. Besides quantitative properties also some qualitative properties are investigated. The systems considered exhibit discontinuous behavior and Dirac impulses, whereas especially Dirac impulses are practically undesirable. Dirac impulses occur in practice in the form of hydraulic shocks in fluid networks or sparks in electronic circuits. The possibility to avoid Dirac impulses is also studied and necessary and sufficient conditions are given