On the synthesis of switched output feedback controllers for linear, time-invariant systems

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2007.Includes bibliographical references (p. 189-193).The theory of switching systems has seen many advances in the past decade. Its beginnings were founded primarily due to the physical limitations in devices to implement control such as relays, but today there exists a strong interest in the development of switching systems where switching is introduced as a means of increasing performance. With the newer set of problems that arise from this viewpoint comes the need for many new tools for analysis and design. Analysis tools which include, for instance, the celebrated work on multiple Lyapunov functions are extensive. Tools for the design of switched systems also exist, but, in many cases, the method of designing stabilizing switching laws is often a separate process from the method which is used to determine the set of vector fields between which switching takes place. For instance, one typical method of designing switching controllers for linear, time-invariant (LTI) systems is to first design a set of stabilizing LTI controllers using standard LTI methods, and then design a switching law to increase performance. While such design algorithms can lead to increases in performance, they often impose restrictions that do not allow the designer to take full advantage of the switching architecture being considered.(cont.) For instance, if one switches between controllers that are individually stabilizing (without any switching), then, effectively, one is forced to switch only between stable systems and, hence, cannot take advantage of the potential benefits of switching between unstable systems in a stable way. It is, therefore, natural to wonder whether design algorithms can be developed which simultaneously design both the set of controllers to be switched and a stabilizing switching law. The work investigated here attempts to take a small step in the above direction. We consider a simple switching architecture that implements switched proportional gain control for second order LTI systems. Examination of this particular structure is motivated by its mathematical simplicity for ease of analysis (and, hence, as a means of gaining insight into the problem-at-large), but, as we will see, the design techniques investigated here can be extended to a larger class of (higher order, potentially non-linear and/or time-varying) systems using standard tools from robust control. The overall problem we investigate is the ability to create algorithms to simultaneously determine a set of switching gains and an associated switching law for a particular plant and performance objective.(cont.) After determining a set of necessary and sufficient conditions for a given second order plant to be stabilizable via the given switching architecture, we synthesize an algorithm for constructing controllers for which the corresponding closed-loop system dynamics are finite L, gain stable. Also, in an effort to demonstrate that the the given structure can, in fact. he used to increase performance. we consider a step-tracking design problem for a class of plants, where we use overshoot and settling time of the output step response to measure performance. We compare the results obtained using our switching architecture to the performance that can be obtained via two other LTI controller architectures to illustrate some of the performance benefits.by Keith Robert Santarelli.Ph.D

A low power digitizer for precision carrier band measurements

Thesis (M.Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2000.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-78).It has been found that the amplitude of the 20kHz harmonic at the output of a particular third order [Sigma][Delta] analog to digital converter drifts significantly as the temperature fluctuates. In this document, both methods of ascertaining the source of this drift and ways to reduce it are discussed. First, the settling time of the circuit is explored by analyzing the design of the transmission gates used to implement the switched capacitor integrators in the [Sigma][Delta]. Next, the effects of op amp transistor mismatch is considered via simulations which introduce small random offsets to the widths and lengths in the transistors of each op amp. Finally, a calibration scheme which can be used to eliminate the AC gain variation of the [Sigma][Delta] at 20kHz is analyzed, and simulation results of the circuit used to perform the calibration are portrayed.by Keith R. Santarelli.M.Eng

Xyce parallel electronic simulator release notes.

The Xyce Parallel Electronic Simulator has been written to support, in a rigorous manner, the simulation needs of the Sandia National Laboratories electrical designers. Specific requirements include, among others, the ability to solve extremely large circuit problems by supporting large-scale parallel computing platforms, improved numerical performance and object-oriented code design and implementation. The Xyce release notes describe: Hardware and software requirements New features and enhancements Any defects fixed since the last release Current known defects and defect workarounds For up-to-date information not available at the time these notes were produced, please visit the Xyce web page at http://www.cs.sandia.gov/xyce

Xyce Parallel Electronic Simulator : users' guide.

This manual describes the use of the Xyce Parallel Electronic Simulator. Xyce has been designed as a SPICE-compatible, high-performance analog circuit simulator, and has been written to support the simulation needs of the Sandia National Laboratories electrical designers. This development has focused on improving capability over the current state-of-the-art in the following areas: (1) Capability to solve extremely large circuit problems by supporting large-scale parallel computing platforms (up to thousands of processors). Note that this includes support for most popular parallel and serial computers; (2) Improved performance for all numerical kernels (e.g., time integrator, nonlinear and linear solvers) through state-of-the-art algorithms and novel techniques. (3) Device models which are specifically tailored to meet Sandia's needs, including some radiation-aware devices (for Sandia users only); and (4) Object-oriented code design and implementation using modern coding practices that ensure that the Xyce Parallel Electronic Simulator will be maintainable and extensible far into the future. Xyce is a parallel code in the most general sense of the phrase - a message passing parallel implementation - which allows it to run efficiently on the widest possible number of computing platforms. These include serial, shared-memory and distributed-memory parallel as well as heterogeneous platforms. Careful attention has been paid to the specific nature of circuit-simulation problems to ensure that optimal parallel efficiency is achieved as the number of processors grows. The development of Xyce provides a platform for computational research and development aimed specifically at the needs of the Laboratory. With Xyce, Sandia has an 'in-house' capability with which both new electrical (e.g., device model development) and algorithmic (e.g., faster time-integration methods, parallel solver algorithms) research and development can be performed. As a result, Xyce is a unique electrical simulation capability, designed to meet the unique needs of the laboratory

Xyce parallel electronic simulator : users' guide.

This manual describes the use of the Xyce Parallel Electronic Simulator. Xyce has been designed as a SPICE-compatible, high-performance analog circuit simulator, and has been written to support the simulation needs of the Sandia National Laboratories electrical designers. This development has focused on improving capability over the current state-of-the-art in the following areas: (1) Capability to solve extremely large circuit problems by supporting large-scale parallel computing platforms (up to thousands of processors). Note that this includes support for most popular parallel and serial computers; (2) Improved performance for all numerical kernels (e.g., time integrator, nonlinear and linear solvers) through state-of-the-art algorithms and novel techniques. (3) Device models which are specifically tailored to meet Sandia's needs, including some radiation-aware devices (for Sandia users only); and (4) Object-oriented code design and implementation using modern coding practices that ensure that the Xyce Parallel Electronic Simulator will be maintainable and extensible far into the future. Xyce is a parallel code in the most general sense of the phrase - a message passing parallel implementation - which allows it to run efficiently on the widest possible number of computing platforms. These include serial, shared-memory and distributed-memory parallel as well as heterogeneous platforms. Careful attention has been paid to the specific nature of circuit-simulation problems to ensure that optimal parallel efficiency is achieved as the number of processors grows. The development of Xyce provides a platform for computational research and development aimed specifically at the needs of the Laboratory. With Xyce, Sandia has an 'in-house' capability with which both new electrical (e.g., device model development) and algorithmic (e.g., faster time-integration methods, parallel solver algorithms) research and development can be performed. As a result, Xyce is a unique electrical simulation capability, designed to meet the unique needs of the laboratory

α-Tocopheryl succinate promotes selective cell death induced by vitamin K3 in combination with ascorbate

BACKGROUND: A strategy to reduce the secondary effects of anti-cancer agents is to potentiate the therapeutic effect by their combination. A combination of vitamin K3 (VK3) and ascorbic acid (AA) exhibited an anti-cancer synergistic effect, associated with extracellular production of H2O2 that promoted cell death. METHODS: The redox-silent vitamin E analogue a-tocopheryl succinate (a-TOS) was used in combination with VK3 and AA to evaluate their effect on prostate cancer cells. RESULTS: Prostate cancer cells were sensitive to a-TOS and VK3 treatment, but resistant to AA upto 3.2mM. When combined, a synergistic effect was found for VK3\u2013AA, whereas a-TOS\u2013VK3 and a-TOS\u2013AA combination showed an antagonist and additive effect, respectively. However, sub-lethal doses of AA\u2013VK3 combination combined with a sub-toxic dose of a-TOS showed to induce efficient cell death that resembles autoschizis. Associated with this cell demise, lipid peroxidation, DNA damage, cytoskeleton alteration, lysosomal\u2013mitochondrial perturbation, and release of cytochrome c without caspase activation were observed. Inhibition of lysosomal proteases did not attenuate cell death induced by the combined agents. Furthermore, cell deaths by apoptosis and autoschizis were detected. CONCLUSION: These finding support the emerging idea that synergistic combinations of some agents can overcome toxicity and other side-effects associated with high doses of single drugs creating the opportunity for therapeutically relevant selectivity

A switched state feedback law for the stabilization of LTI systems.

Inspired by prior work in the design of switched feedback controllers for second order systems, we develop a switched state feedback control law for the stabilization of LTI systems of arbitrary dimension. The control law operates by switching between two static gain vectors in such a way that the state trajectory is driven onto a stable n - 1 dimensional hyperplane (where n represents the system dimension). We begin by briefly examining relevant geometric properties of the phase portraits in the case of two-dimensional systems to develop intuition, and we then show how these geometric properties can be expressed as algebraic constraints on the switched vector fields that are applicable to LTI systems of arbitrary dimension. We then derive necessary and sufficient conditions to ensure stabilizability of the resulting switched system (characterized primarily by simple conditions on eigenvalues), and describe an explicit procedure for designing stabilizing controllers. We then show how the newly developed control law can be applied to the problem of minimizing the maximal Lyapunov exponent of the corresponding closed-loop state trajectories, and we illustrate the closed-loop transient performance of these switched state feedback controllers via multiple examples