Robust Sliding Control of SEIR Epidemic Models

This paper is aimed at designing a robust vaccination strategy capable of eradicating an infectious disease from a population regardless of the potential uncertainty in the parameters defining the disease. For this purpose, a control theoretic approach based on a sliding-mode control law is used. Initially, the controller is designed assuming certain knowledge of an upper-bound of the uncertainty signal. Afterwards, this condition is removed while an adaptive sliding control system is designed. The closed-loop properties are proved mathematically in the nonadaptive and adaptive cases. Furthermore, the usual sign function appearing in the sliding-mode control is substituted by the saturation function in order to prevent chattering. In addition, the properties achieved by the closed-loop system under this variation are also stated and proved analytically. The closed-loop system is able to attain the control objective regardless of the parametric uncertainties of the model and the lack of a priori knowledge on the system.This work was partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through Grant no. DPI2012-30651, the Basque Government (Gobierno Vasco) through Grant no. IE378-10, and by the University of the Basque Country through Grant no. UFI 11/07

Feedback linearization-based vaccination control strategies for true-mass action type SEIR epidemic models

This paper presents a feedback linearization-based control strategy for a SEIR (susceptible plus infected plus infectious plus removed populations) propagation disease model. The model takes into account the total population amounts as a refrain for the illness transmission since its increase makes more difficult contacts among susceptible and infected. The control objective is novel in the sense that the asymptotically tracking of the removed-by-immunity population to the total population while achieving simultaneously the remaining population (i.e. susceptible plus infected plus infectious) to asymptotically converge to zero. The vaccination policy is firstly designed on the above proposed tracking objective. Then, it is proven that identical vaccination rules might be found based on a general feedback linearization technique. Such a formal technique is very useful in control theory which provides a general method to generate families of vaccination policies with sound technical background which include those proposed in the former sections of the paper. The output zero dynamics of the normal canonical form in the theoretical feedback linearization analysis is identified with that of the removed-by-immunity population. The various proposed vaccination feedback rules involved one of more of the partial populations and there is a certain flexibility in their designs since some control parameters being multiplicative coefficients of the various populations may be zeroed. The basic properties of stability and positivity of the solutions are investigated in a joint way. The equilibrium points and their stability properties as well as the positivity of the solutions are also investigated

Using Multiple Fidelity Numerical Models for Floating Offshore Wind Turbine Advanced Control Design

This paper summarises the tuning process of the Aerodynamic Platform Stabiliser control loop and its performance with Floating Offshore Wind Turbine model. Simplified Low-Order Wind turbine numerical models have been used for the system identification and control tuning process. Denmark Technical University's 10 MW wind turbine model mounted on the TripleSpar platform concept was used for this study. Time-domain simulations were carried out in a fully coupled non-linear aero-hydro-elastic simulation tool FAST, in which wind and wave disturbances were modelled. This testing yielded significant improvements in the overall Floating Offshore Wind Turbine performance and load reduction, validating the control technique presented in this work.This work was partially funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the research project DPI2017-82930-C2-2-R

An SIRS Epidemic Model Supervised by a Control System for Vaccination and Treatment Actions Which Involve First-Order Dynamics and Vaccination of Newborns

This paper analyses an SIRS epidemic model with the vaccination of susceptible individuals and treatment of infectious ones. Both actions are governed by a designed control system whose inputs are the subpopulations of the epidemic model. In addition, the vaccination of a proportion of newborns is considered. The control reproduction number Rc of the controlled epidemic model is calculated, and its influence in the existence and stability of equilibrium points is studied. If such a number is smaller than a threshold value R¯¯¯c, then the model has a unique equilibrium point: the so-called disease-free equilibrium point at which there are not infectious individuals. Furthermore, such an equilibrium point is locally and globally asymptotically stable. On the contrary, if Rc>R¯¯¯c, then the model has two equilibrium points: the referred disease-free one, which is unstable, and an endemic one at which there are infectious individuals. The proposed control strategy provides several free-design parameters that influence both values Rc and R¯¯¯c. Then, such parameters can be appropriately adjusted for guaranteeing the non-existence of the endemic equilibrium point and, in this way, eradicating the persistence of the infectious disease.This research received support from the Spanish Government through grant RTI2018-094336-B-I00 (MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE)

On a generalized SVEIR epidemic model under regular and adaptive impulsive vaccination

A model for a generic disease with incubation and recovered stages is proposed. It incorporates a vaccinated subpopulation which presents a partial immunity to the disease. We study the stability, periodic solutions and impulsive vaccination design in the generalized modeled system for the dynamics and spreading of the disease under impulsive and non-impulsive vaccination. First, the effect of a regular impulsive vaccination on the evolution of the subpopulations is studied. Later a non-regular impulsive vaccination strategy is introduced based on an adaptive control law for the frequency and quantity of applied vaccines. We show the later strategy improves drastically the efficiency of the vaccines and reduce the infectious subpopulation more rapidly over time compared to a regular impulsive vaccination with constant values for both the frequency and vaccines quantity

On an SEIR Epidemic Model with Vaccination of Newborns and Periodic Impulsive Vaccination with Eventual On-Line Adapted Vaccination Strategies to the Varying Levels of the Susceptible Subpopulation

This paper investigates a susceptible-exposed-infectious-recovered (SEIR) epidemic model with demography under two vaccination effort strategies. Firstly, the model is investigated under vaccination of newborns, which is fact in a direct action on the recruitment level of the model. Secondly, it is investigated under a periodic impulsive vaccination on the susceptible in the sense that the vaccination impulses are concentrated in practice in very short time intervals around a set of impulsive time instants subject to constant inter-vaccination periods. Both strategies can be adapted, if desired, to the time-varying levels of susceptible in the sense that the control efforts be increased as those susceptible levels increase. The model is discussed in terms of suitable properties like the positivity of the solutions, the existence and allocation of equilibrium points, and stability concerns related to the values of the basic reproduction number. It is proven that the basic reproduction number lies below unity, so that the disease-free equilibrium point is asymptotically stable for larger values of the disease transmission rates under vaccination controls compared to the case of absence of vaccination. It is also proven that the endemic equilibrium point is not reachable if the disease-free one is stable and that the disease-free equilibrium point is unstable if the reproduction number exceeds unity while the endemic equilibrium point is stable. Several numerical results are investigated for both vaccination rules with the option of adapting through ime the corresponding efforts to the levels of susceptibility. Such simulation examples are performed under parameterizations related to the current SARS-COVID 19 pandemic.This research was supported by the Spanish Institute of Health Carlos III through Grant COV 20/01213 and by the Spanish Government and European Commission through Grant RTI2018-094336-B-I00 (MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE)

On the Supervision of a Saturated SIR Epidemic Model with Four Joint Control Actions for a Drastic Reduction in the Infection and the Susceptibility through Time

This paper presents and studies a new epidemic SIR (Susceptible–Infectious–Recovered) model with susceptible recruitment and eventual joint vaccination efforts for both newborn and susceptible individuals. Furthermore, saturation effects in the infection incidence terms are eventually assumed for both the infectious and the susceptible subpopulations. The vaccination action on newborn individuals is assumed to be applied to a fraction of them while that on the susceptible general population is of linear feedback type reinforced with impulsive vaccination actions (in practice, very strong and massive vaccination controls) at certain time points, based on information on the current levels of the susceptible subpopulation. Apart from the above vaccination controls, it is also assumed that the average of contagion contacts can be controlled via intervention measures, such as confinements or isolation measures, social distance rules, use of masks, mobility constraints, etc. The main objectives of the paper are the achievement of a strictly decreasing infection for all time periods and that of the susceptible individuals over the initial period if they exceed the disease-free equilibrium value. The monitoring mechanism is the combined activation of intervention measures to reduce the contagion contacts together with the impulsive vaccination to reduce susceptibility. The susceptibility and recovery levels of the disease-free equilibrium point are suitably prefixed by the design of the regular feedback vaccination on the susceptible subpopulation.The research received support from the Spanish Government and the European commission through grant RTI2016-094336-BI00 (MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE)

On the Reachability of a Feedback Controlled Leontief-Type Singular Model Involving Scheduled Production, Recycling and Non-Renewable Resources

This paper proposes and studies the reachability of a singular regular dynamic discrete Leontief-type economic model which includes production industries, recycling industries, and non-renewable products in an integrated way. The designed prefixed final state to be reached, under discussed reachability conditions, is subject to necessary additional positivity-type constraints which depend on the initial conditions and the final time for the solution to match such a final prescribed state. It is assumed that the model may be driven by both the demand and an additional correcting control in order to achieve the final targeted state in finite time. Formal sufficiency-type conditions are established for the proposed singular Leontief model to be reachable under positive feedback, correcting controls designed for appropriate demand/supply regulation. Basically, the proposed regulation scheme allows fixing a prescribed final state of economic goods stock in finite time if the model is reachable.RTI2018-094336-B-100 (MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE) and Basque Government Grant IT1207-19

On a Discrete SEIR Epidemic Model with Exposed Infectivity, Feedback Vaccination and Partial Delayed Re-Susceptibility

A new discrete Susceptible-Exposed-Infectious-Recovered (SEIR) epidemic model is proposed, and its properties of non-negativity and (both local and global) asymptotic stability of the solution sequence vector on the first orthant of the state-space are discussed. The calculation of the disease-free and the endemic equilibrium points is also performed. The model has the following main characteristics: (a) the exposed subpopulation is infective, as it is the infectious one, but their respective transmission rates may be distinct; (b) a feedback vaccination control law on the Susceptible is incorporated; and (c) the model is subject to delayed partial re-susceptibility in the sense that a partial immunity loss in the recovered individuals happens after a certain delay. In this way, a portion of formerly recovered individuals along a range of previous samples is incorporated again to the susceptible subpopulation. The rate of loss of partial immunity of the considered range of previous samples may be, in general, distinct for the various samples. It is found that the endemic equilibrium point is not reachable in the transmission rate range of values, which makes the disease-free one to be globally asymptotically stable. The critical transmission rate which confers to only one of the equilibrium points the property of being asymptotically stable (respectively below or beyond its value) is linked to the unity basic reproduction number and makes both equilibrium points to be coincident. In parallel, the endemic equilibrium point is reachable and globally asymptotically stable in the range for which the disease-free equilibrium point is unstable. It is also discussed the relevance of both the vaccination effort and the re-susceptibility level in the modification of the disease-free equilibrium point compared to its reached component values in their absence. The influences of the limit control gain and equilibrium re-susceptibility level in the reached endemic state are also explicitly made viewable for their interpretation from the endemic equilibrium components. Some simulation examples are tested and discussed by using disease parameterizations of COVID-19.The work has been funded by Grant RTI2018-094336-B-I00 from MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE; by Grant IT1207-19, by the Basque Government and by Grant COV 20/01213 from Spanish Institute of Health Carlos III

An Advanced Control Technique for Floating Offshore Wind Turbines Based on More Compact Barge Platforms

Hydrodynamic Floating Offshore Wind Turbine (FOWT) platform specifications are typically dominated by seaworthiness and maximum operating platform-pitch angle-related requirements. However, such specifications directly impact the challenge posed by an FOWT in terms of control design. The conventional FOWT systems are typically based on large, heavy floating platforms, which are less likely to suffer from the negative damping effect caused by the excessive coupling between blade-pitch control and platform-pitch motion. An advanced control technique is presented here to increase system stability for barge type platforms. Such a technique mitigates platform-pitch motions and improves the generator speed regulation, while maintaining blade-pitch activity and reducing blade and tower loads. The NREL's 5MW + ITI Energy barge reference model is taken as a basis for this work. Furthermore, the capabilities of the proposed controller for performing with a more compact and less hydrodynamically stable barge platform is analysed, with encouraging results.This work has been partially funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the research project DPI2017-82930-C2-2-R