Qualitative Studies of Nonlinear Hybrid Systems

A hybrid system is a dynamical system that exhibits both continuous and discrete dynamic behavior. Hybrid systems arise in a wide variety of important applications in diverse areas, ranging from biology to computer science to air traffic dynamics. The interaction of continuous- and discrete-time dynamics in a hybrid system often leads to very rich dynamical behavior and phenomena that are not encountered in purely continuous- or discrete-time systems. Investigating the dynamical behavior of hybrid systems is of great theoretical and practical importance. The objectives of this thesis are to develop the qualitative theory of nonlinear hybrid systems with impulses, time-delay, switching modes, and stochastic disturbances, to develop algorithms and perform analysis for hybrid systems with an emphasis on stability and control, and to apply the theory and methods to real-world application problems. Switched nonlinear systems are formulated as a family of nonlinear differential equations, called subsystems, together with a switching signal that selects the continuous dynamics among the subsystems. Uniform stability is studied emphasizing the situation where both stable and unstable subsystems are present. Uniformity of stability refers to both the initial time and a family of switching signals. Stabilization of nonlinear systems via state-dependent switching signal is investigated. Based on assumptions on a convex linear combination of the nonlinear vector fields, a generalized minimal rule is proposed to generate stabilizing switching signals that are well-defined and do not exhibit chattering or Zeno behavior. Impulsive switched systems are hybrid systems exhibiting both impulse and switching effects, and are mathematically formulated as a switched nonlinear system coupled with a sequence of nonlinear difference equations that act on the switched system at discrete times. Impulsive switching signals integrate both impulsive and switching laws that specify when and how impulses and switching occur. Invariance principles can be used to investigate asymptotic stability in the absence of a strict Lyapunov function. An invariance principle is established for impulsive switched systems under weak dwell-time signals. Applications of this invariance principle provide several asymptotic stability criteria. Input-to-state stability notions are formulated in terms of two different measures, which not only unify various stability notions under the stability theory in two measures, but also bridge this theory with the existent input/output theories for nonlinear systems. Input-to-state stability results are obtained for impulsive switched systems under generalized dwell-time signals. Hybrid time-delay systems are hybrid systems with dependence on the past states of the systems. Switched delay systems and impulsive switched systems are special classes of hybrid time-delay systems. Both invariance property and input-to-state stability are extended to cover hybrid time-delay systems. Stochastic hybrid systems are hybrid systems subject to random disturbances, and are formulated using stochastic differential equations. Focused on stochastic hybrid systems with time-delay, a fundamental theory regarding existence and uniqueness of solutions is established. Stabilization schemes for stochastic delay systems using state-dependent switching and stabilizing impulses are proposed, both emphasizing the situation where all the subsystems are unstable. Concerning general stochastic hybrid systems with time-delay, the Razumikhin technique and multiple Lyapunov functions are combined to obtain several Razumikhin-type theorems on both moment and almost sure stability of stochastic hybrid systems with time-delay. Consensus problems in networked multi-agent systems and global convergence of artificial neural networks are related to qualitative studies of hybrid systems in the sense that dynamic switching, impulsive effects, communication time-delays, and random disturbances are ubiquitous in networked systems. Consensus protocols are proposed for reaching consensus among networked agents despite switching network topologies, communication time-delays, and measurement noises. Focused on neural networks with discontinuous neuron activation functions and mixed time-delays, sufficient conditions for existence and uniqueness of equilibrium and global convergence and stability are derived using both linear matrix inequalities and M-matrix type conditions. Numerical examples and simulations are presented throughout this thesis to illustrate the theoretical results

Robust H∞ filtering for a class of nonlinear networked systems with multiple stochastic communication delays and packet dropouts

Copyright [2010] IEEE. This material is posted here with permission of the IEEE. Such permission of the IEEE does not in any way imply IEEE endorsement of any of Brunel University's products or services. Internal or personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution must be obtained from the IEEE by writing to [email protected]. By choosing to view this document, you agree to all provisions of the copyright laws protecting it.In this paper, the robust H∞ filtering problem is studied for a class of uncertain nonlinear networked systems with both multiple stochastic time-varying communication delays and multiple packet dropouts. A sequence of random variables, all of which are mutually independent but obey Bernoulli distribution, are introduced to account for the randomly occurred communication delays. The packet dropout phenomenon occurs in a random way and the occurrence probability for each sensor is governed by an individual random variable satisfying a certain probabilistic distribution in the interval. The discrete-time system under consideration is also subject to parameter uncertainties, state-dependent stochastic disturbances and sector-bounded nonlinearities. We aim to design a linear full-order filter such that the estimation error converges to zero exponentially in the mean square while the disturbance rejection attenuation is constrained to a give level by means of the H∞ performance index. Intensive stochastic analysis is carried out to obtain sufficient conditions for ensuring the exponential stability as well as prescribed H∞ performance for the overall filtering error dynamics, in the presence of random delays, random dropouts, nonlinearities, and the parameter uncertainties. These conditions are characterized in terms of the feasibility of a set of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs), and then the explicit expression is given for the desired filter parameters. Simulation results are employed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed filter design technique in this paper.This work was supported in part by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) of the U.K. under Grant GR/S27658/01, the Royal Society of the U.K., the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany, National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 60825303, 60834003, 973 Project under Grant 2009CB320600, Fok Ying Tung Education Foundation under Grant 111064, and the Youth Science Fund of Heilongjiang Province under Grant QC2009C63

Global synchronization for discrete-time stochastic complex networks with randomly occurred nonlinearities and mixed time delays

Copyright [2010] IEEE. This material is posted here with permission of the IEEE. Such permission of the IEEE does not in any way imply IEEE endorsement of any of Brunel University's products or services. Internal or personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution must be obtained from the IEEE by writing to [email protected]. By choosing to view this document, you agree to all provisions of the copyright laws protecting it.In this paper, the problem of stochastic synchronization analysis is investigated for a new array of coupled discrete-time stochastic complex networks with randomly occurred nonlinearities (RONs) and time delays. The discrete-time complex networks under consideration are subject to: (1) stochastic nonlinearities that occur according to the Bernoulli distributed white noise sequences; (2) stochastic disturbances that enter the coupling term, the delayed coupling term as well as the overall network; and (3) time delays that include both the discrete and distributed ones. Note that the newly introduced RONs and the multiple stochastic disturbances can better reflect the dynamical behaviors of coupled complex networks whose information transmission process is affected by a noisy environment (e.g., Internet-based control systems). By constructing a novel Lyapunov-like matrix functional, the idea of delay fractioning is applied to deal with the addressed synchronization analysis problem. By employing a combination of the linear matrix inequality (LMI) techniques, the free-weighting matrix method and stochastic analysis theories, several delay-dependent sufficient conditions are obtained which ensure the asymptotic synchronization in the mean square sense for the discrete-time stochastic complex networks with time delays. The criteria derived are characterized in terms of LMIs whose solution can be solved by utilizing the standard numerical software. A simulation example is presented to show the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed results

Embedded Network Test-Bed for Validating Real-Time Control Algorithms to Ensure Optimal Time Domain Performance

The paper presents a Stateflow based network test-bed to validate real-time optimal control algorithms. Genetic Algorithm (GA) based time domain performance index minimization is attempted for tuning of PI controller to handle a balanced lag and delay type First Order Plus Time Delay (FOPTD) process over network. The tuning performance is validated on a real-time communication network with artificially simulated stochastic delay, packet loss and out-of order packets characterizing the network.Comment: 6 pages, 12 figure

Recent advances on filtering and control for nonlinear stochastic complex systems with incomplete information: A survey

This Article is provided by the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund - Copyright @ 2012 Hindawi PublishingSome recent advances on the filtering and control problems for nonlinear stochastic complex systems with incomplete information are surveyed. The incomplete information under consideration mainly includes missing measurements, randomly varying sensor delays, signal quantization, sensor saturations, and signal sampling. With such incomplete information, the developments on various filtering and control issues are reviewed in great detail. In particular, the addressed nonlinear stochastic complex systems are so comprehensive that they include conventional nonlinear stochastic systems, different kinds of complex networks, and a large class of sensor networks. The corresponding filtering and control technologies for such nonlinear stochastic complex systems are then discussed. Subsequently, some latest results on the filtering and control problems for the complex systems with incomplete information are given. Finally, conclusions are drawn and several possible future research directions are pointed out.This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant nos. 61134009, 61104125, 61028008, 61174136, 60974030, and 61074129, the Qing Lan Project of Jiangsu Province of China, the Project sponsored by SRF for ROCS of SEM of China, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council EPSRC of the UK under Grant GR/S27658/01, the Royal Society of the UK, and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany

H∞ control for networked systems with random communication delays

Copyright [2006] IEEE. This material is posted here with permission of the IEEE. Such permission of the IEEE does not in any way imply IEEE endorsement of any of Brunel University's products or services. Internal or personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution must be obtained from the IEEE by writing to [email protected]. By choosing to view this document, you agree to all provisions of the copyright laws protecting it.This note is concerned with a new controller design problem for networked systems with random communication delays. Two kinds of random delays are simultaneously considered: i) from the controller to the plant, and ii) from the sensor to the controller, via a limited bandwidth communication channel. The random delays are modeled as a linear function of the stochastic variable satisfying Bernoulli random binary distribution. The observer-based controller is designed to exponentially stabilize the networked system in the sense of mean square, and also achieve the prescribed H∞ disturbance attenuation level. The addressed controller design problem is transformed to an auxiliary convex optimization problem, which can be solved by a linear matrix inequality (LMI) approach. An illustrative example is provided to show the applicability of the proposed method

Recent advances on recursive filtering and sliding mode design for networked nonlinear stochastic systems: A survey

Copyright © 2013 Jun Hu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Some recent advances on the recursive filtering and sliding mode design problems for nonlinear stochastic systems with network-induced phenomena are surveyed. The network-induced phenomena under consideration mainly include missing measurements, fading measurements, signal quantization, probabilistic sensor delays, sensor saturations, randomly occurring nonlinearities, and randomly occurring uncertainties. With respect to these network-induced phenomena, the developments on filtering and sliding mode design problems are systematically reviewed. In particular, concerning the network-induced phenomena, some recent results on the recursive filtering for time-varying nonlinear stochastic systems and sliding mode design for time-invariant nonlinear stochastic systems are given, respectively. Finally, conclusions are proposed and some potential future research works are pointed out.This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant nos. 61134009, 61329301, 61333012, 61374127 and 11301118, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) of the UK under Grant no. GR/S27658/01, the Royal Society of the UK, and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany

Global synchronization for delayed complex networks with randomly occurring nonlinearities and multiple stochastic disturbances

This is the post print version of the article. The official published version can be obained from the link - Copyright 2009 IOP Publishing LtdThis paper is concerned with the synchronization problem for a new class of continuous time delayed complex networks with stochastic nonlinearities (randomly occurring nonlinearities), interval time-varying delays, unbounded distributed delays as well as multiple stochastic disturbances. The stochastic nonlinearities and multiple stochastic disturbances are investigated here in order to reflect more realistic dynamical behaviors of the complex networks that are affected by the noisy environment. By utilizing a new matrix functional with the idea of partitioning the lower bound h1 of the time-varying delay, we employ the stochastic analysis techniques and the properties of the Kronecker product to establish delay-dependent synchronization criteria that ensure the globally asymptotically mean-square synchronization of the addressed stochastic delayed complex networks. The sufficient conditions obtained are in the form of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) whose solutions can be readily solved by using the standard numerical software. A numerical example is exploited to show the applicability of the proposed results.This work was supported in part by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) of the UK under Grant GR/S27658/01, an International Joint Project sponsored by the Royal Society of the UK, the National 973 Program of China under Grant 2009CB320600, the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 60804028, the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education for New Teachers under Grant 200802861044, the Teaching and Research Fund for Excellent Young Teachers at Southeast University of China, and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany

Estimation, Analysis and Smoothing of Self-Similar Network Induced Delays in Feedback Control of Nuclear Reactors

This paper analyzes a nuclear reactor power signal that suffers from network induced random delays in the shared data network while being fed-back to the Reactor Regulating System (RRS). A detailed study is carried out to investigate the self similarity of random delay dynamics due to the network traffic in shared medium. The fractionality or selfsimilarity in the network induced delay that corrupts the measured power signal coming from Self Powered Neutron Detectors (SPND) is estimated and analyzed. As any fractional order randomness is intrinsically different from conventional Gaussian kind of randomness, these delay dynamics need to be handled efficiently, before reaching the controller within the RRS. An attempt has been made to minimize the effect of the randomness in the reactor power transient data with few classes of smoothing filters. The performance measure of the smoothers with fractional order noise consideration is also investigated into.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

Robust H∞ filtering for networked systems with multiple state delays

This is the post print version of the article. The official published version can be obtained from the link below - Copyright 2007 Taylor & Francis Ltd.In this paper, a new robust H∞ filter design problem is studied for a class of networked systems with multiple state-delays. Two kinds of incomplete measurements, namely, measurements with random delays and measurements with stochastic missing phenomenon, are simultaneously considered. Such incomplete measurements are induced by the limited bandwidth of communication networks, and are modelled as a linear function of a certain set of indicator functions that depend on the same stochastic variable. Attention is focused on the analysis and design problems of a full-order robust H∞ filter such that, for all admissible parameter uncertainties and all possible incomplete measurements, the filtering error dynamics is exponentially mean-square stable and a prescribed H∞ attenuation level is guaranteed. Some recently reported methodologies, such as delay-dependent and parameter-dependent stability analysis approaches, are employed to obtain less conservative results. Sufficient conditions, which are dependent on the occurrence probability of both the random sensor delay and missing measurement, are established for the existence of the desired filters in terms of certain linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). When these LMIs are feasible, the explicit expression of the desired filter can also be characterized. Finally, numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed design method.This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 60574084, the National 863 Project of China under Grant 2006AA04Z428, and the National 973 Program of China under Grant 2002CB312200