Data-driven optimal switching of switched systems

Switched systems are complicated due to the switching among the subsystems. When the subsystem models are unknown, control problems on switched systems turn to be more intractable. In this paper, the optimal switching problems are investigated for continuous-time switched autonomous systems with unknown dynamics and a finite-horizon cost function. Firstly, a novel data-driven optimal scheduling approach is proposed based on the estimated insertion gradients. Secondly, aiming at switched systems with a prescribed switching sequence, a data-driven optimal switching time approach is proposed based on the estimated derivatives of the cost with respect to the switching times. The two approaches take advantages of plenty state data containing necessary information instead of the system models. Furthermore, the errors of the approaches are analysed and bounded. Finally, simulation results of two examples are given to show the validity of the two approaches.     

Distributed state estimation and fault diagnosis using reduced sensitivity to neighbor estimates with application to building control

This paper proposes solutions that reduce the inaccuracy of distributed state estimation and consequent performance deterioration of distributed model predictive control caused by faults and inaccurate models. A distributed state estimation method for large-scale systems is introduced. A local state estimation approach considers the uncertainty of neighbor estimates, which can improve the state estimation accuracy, whereas it keeps a low network communication burden. The method also incorporates the uncertainty of model parameters which improves the performance when using simplified models. The proposed method is extended with multiple models and estimates the probability of nominal and fault behavior models, which creates a distributed fault detection and diagnosis method. An example with application to the building heating control demonstrates that the proposed algorithm provides accurate state estimates to a controller and detects local or global faults while using simplified models.     

On delay-dependent stabilization analysis for the switched time-delay systems with the state-driven switching strategy

For the switched time-delay systems, the delay-dependent stability criteria will be derived under a state-driven switching law. A linear state transformation was introduced to transfer the switched time-delay system. On delay dependent stabilization analysis, we apply the Lyapunov-Krasovskii functionals to analyze the stabilization of the switched time-delay systems. This method can be applied to cases when all individual switched systems are unstable. Finally, one example is exploited to illustrate the proposed schemes.     

Distributed event-triggered sliding mode control of switched systems

This paper investigates the problem of distributed event-triggered sliding mode control (SMC) for switched systems with limited communication capacity. Moreover, the system output and switching signals are both considered to be sampled by distributed digital sensors, which may cause control delay and asynchronous switching. First of all, a novel distributed event-triggering scheme for switched systems is proposed to reduce bandwidth requirements. Then, a state observer is designed to estimate the system state via sampled system output with transmission delay. Based on the observed system state, a switched SMC law and corresponding switching law are designed to guarantee the exponential stability of the closed-loop system with H_∞ performance. Finally, an application example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

H∞ finite-time control for switched nonlinear discrete-time systems with norm-bounded disturbance

Finite-time stability concerns the boundness of system during a fixed finite-time interval. For switched systems, finite-time stability property can be affected significantly by switching behavior; however, it was neglected by most previous research. In this paper, the problems of finite-time stability analysis and stabilization for switched nonlinear discrete-time systems are addressed. First, sufficient conditions are given to ensure a class of switched nonlinear discrete-time system subjected to norm bounded disturbance finite-time bounded under arbitrary switching, and then the results are extended to H_∞ finite-time boundness of switched nonlinear discrete-time systems. Finally based on the results on finite-time boundness, the state feedback controller is designed to H_∞ finite-time stabilize a switched nonlinear discrete-time system. A numerical design example is given to illustrate the proposed results within this paper.     

Resilient sliding mode control for a class of cyber-physical systems with multiple transmission channels under denial-of-service attacks

This paper investigates the resilient sliding mode control problem for cyber-physical systems (CPSs) with multiple transmission channels under denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. A set of finite-time observers is designed, and a switched integral-type sliding surface is introduced. Thus, the impact of unreliable state estimating channels is reduced, and the disturbance rejection performance is also improved. The number of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) decreases compared with some existing results in designing the observer-based controller, and the input-to-state stability (ISS) is guaranteed. Moreover, the input saturation and event-triggering scheme are considered in the controller and handled by an auxiliary system. The network congestion in the control channel is thus relieved, and the Zeno behavior is excluded simultaneously. Finally, an example of an unmanned stratospheric airship is given to demonstrate effectiveness of the proposed resilient control approach.     

Finite-time stabilization of a class of upper-triangular switched nonlinear systems

This paper investigates the finite-time stabilization for a class of upper-triangular switched nonlinear systems, where nonlinearities are allowed to be lower-order growing. Due to the special structure of the considered system, the presented methods for lower-triangular switched nonlinear systems in the literature can not be directly utilized. To solve the problem, a state feedback control law with a new structure is designed to guarantee the global finite-time stability of the closed-loop system under arbitrary switching signals by using the recursive design approach and the nested saturation method. A simulation example is provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

竞争生产商分销渠道产品质量策略Stackelberg博弈分析

构建了两个竞争生产商、两个零售商与最终顾客组成的三级供应链Stackelberg博弈模型,研究了两个竞争生产商分销渠道设计中如何制定产品质量决策的问题。建立了生产商分销渠道三种策略模型(直接渠道策略、间接渠道策略、混合渠道策略),并且分析了三种渠道策略对生产商产品质量决策、零售商产品采购决策、期望收益函数以及最终顾客消费者剩余的影响。与直接渠道相比,当生产商选择间接渠道策略时,产品质量水平和销售价格均将下降,最终顾客的消费者剩余也会降低,但当低质量生产商选择间接渠道策略时,消费者剩余将会增加,此结论也是对本领域研究的有力补充。最后,进行了算例分析,数值计算结果验证了所建模型的有效性和结论的正确性,为该模型在实践中的具体应用指明了方向。     

Linear output-feedback-based semi-global stabilization for switched nonlinear time-delay systems

This paper focuses on the problem of semi-global output-feedback stabilization for a class of switched nonlinear time-delay systems in strict-feedback form. A switched state observer is first constructed, then switched linear output-feedback controllers for individual subsystems are designed. By skillfully constructing multiple Lyapunov–Krasovskii functionals and successfully solving several troublesome obstacles, such as time-varying delay and switching signals and nonlinearity in the design procedure, the switched linear output-feedback controllers designed can render the resulting closed-loop switched system semi-globally stabilizable under a class of switching signals with average dwell time. Furthermore, under some milder conditions on nonlinearities, the semi-global output-feedback stabilization problem for switched nonlinear time-delay systems is also studied. Simulation studies on two examples, which include a continuous stirred tank reactor, are carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.     

Stabilization of switched linear singular systems with state reset

This paper investigates the stability and stabilization of switched linear singular systems with state reset at switching instants. Based on the dynamics decomposition of singular subsystems, a sufficient stability condition for the system with the given state reset is obtained. Then, the stabilization problem by state reset is investigated and an algorithm for computing the reset matrices is presented. The obtained results extend some previous works on both singular switched systems and reset control for normal switched systems. Finally, a numerical example is presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.     

Mixed H∞ and passive control for a class of nonlinear switched systems with average dwell time via hybrid control approach

This paper investigates the mixed H_∞ and passive control problem for a class of nonlinear switched systems based on a hybrid control strategy. To solve this problem, firstly, using the Takagi–Sugeno (T–S) fuzzy model to approximate every nonlinear subsystem, the nonlinear switched systems are modeled as the switched T–S fuzzy systems. Secondly, the hybrid controllers are used to stabilize the switched T–S fuzzy systems. The hybrid controllers consist of dynamic output-feedback controllers for every subsystem and state updating controllers at the switching instant. Thirdly, a new performance index is proposed for switched systems. This new performance index can be viewed as the mixed weighted H_∞ and passivity performance. Based on this new performance index, the weighted H_∞ control problem and the passive control problem for switched T–S fuzzy systems via the hybrid control strategy are solved in a unified framework. Together the multiple Lyapunov functions (MLFs) approach with the average dwell time (ADT) technique, new design conditions for the hybrid controllers are obtained. Under these conditions, the closed-loop switched T–S fuzzy systems are globally uniformly asymptotically stable with a prescribed mixed H_∞ and passivity performance index. Moreover, the desired hybrid controllers can be constructed by solving a set of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). Finally, the effectiveness of the obtained results is illustrated by a numerical example.     

Marketing analysis of wineries using social collective behavior from users’ temporal activity on Twitter

Marketing professionals face challenges of increasing complexity to adapt classic marketing strategies to the phenomenon of social networks. Companies are currently trying to take advantage of the useful collective knowledge available on social networks to support different types of marketing decisions. The appropriate analysis of this information can offer marketing professionals with important competitive advantages. This work proposes a new methodology to extract the social collective behavior of Twitter users concerning a group of brands based on the users’ temporal activity. Time series of mentions made by individual users to each company’s Twitter account are aggregated to obtain collective activity data for the companies, which is a consequence of both the company’s and other users’ actions. These data are processed using classical unsupervised machine learning techniques, such as temporal clustering and hidden Markov models, to extract collective temporal behavior patterns and models of the dynamics of customers over time for a single brand and groups of brands. The derived knowledge can be used for different tasks, such as identifying the impact of a marketing campaign on Twitter and comparatively assessing the social behaviors of different brands and groups of brands to assist in making marketing decisions. Our methodology is validated in a case study from the wine market. Twitter data were gathered from four regions of different countries around the world with important wineries (Italy: Veneto, Portugal: Porto and Douro Valley, Spain: La Rioja, and United States: Napa Valley), and comparative behavior analysis was carried out from the perspective of the use of Twitter as a communication channel for marketing campaigns.     

Event-triggered adaptive NN control for MIMO switched nonlinear systems with non-ISpS unmodeled dynamics

This paper investigates the problem of event-triggered adaptive neural network (NN) control for multi-input multi-output (MIMO) switched nonlinear systems with output and state constraints and non-input-to-state practically stable (ISpS) unmodeled dynamics. A nonlinear mapping is firstly utilized to deal with output and state constraints. Also, by developing a new switching signal with persistent dwell-time (PDT) and a switching dependent dynamic signal, the difficulty caused by some non-ISpS unmodeled dynamics is overcome. Then, a type of switching event-triggering mechanisms (ETMs) and event-triggered adaptive NN controllers of subsystems are designed, which handle the issue of asynchronous switching without requiring any known restriction on maximum asynchronous time. A piecewise constant introduced into this ETM effectively ensures a strict positive lower bound of inter-event times. Zeno behavior is thus ruled out. Finally, by proposing a novel class of switching signals with reset PDT, it is ensured that all output and state constrains are never violated and all signals of the switched closed-loop system are semi-global uniform ultimate boundedness (SGUUB). A two inverted pendulum system and a numerical example are provided for illustrating the applicability and validity of the proposed method.     

Hybrid event-based asynchronous finite-time control for cyber-physical switched systems under denial-of-service attacks

This paper investigates the event-based asynchronous finite-time control for a class of cyber-physical switched systems under Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks. Considering the attack’s characteristics, we put forward a novel attack-instant-constrained hybrid event-triggered scheme (HETS), which can not only contribute to reducing the network transmission overload, but also well descibe the network denial service behavior under attack interference. An asynchronous and ZOH-based controller is delicately constructed to mitigate the influence of DoS attacks and network-induced delay. A double-mode dependent Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional (LKF) is developed to set up some sufficient finite-time stability criteria for the concerned systems in view of the asynchronous switching effect. Finally, an application example of the urban railway system is offered to verify the proposed control algorithm.     

Hybrid sliding mode observer for switched linear systems with unknown inputs

This paper addresses the state observation and unknown input estimation of a class of switched linear systems with unknown inputs. This class of systems may have modes in which the state is not fully observable. A state transformation allows implementing two suitable reduced-order observers. The first one, based on second order sliding mode techniques, is proposed to reconstruct the discrete state in the presence of unknown inputs. The second one, based on gathering partial information from individual modes of the switched system and on higher order sliding mode techniques, is introduced to estimate the continuous state. Then, the observer injection signal of the first second order sliding mode observer is used to estimate the unknown inputs. Simulation results highlight the efficiency of the proposed method.     

Coalescing drops in microfluidic parking networks: A multifunctional platform for drop-based microfluidics

Multiwell plate and pipette systems have revolutionized modern biological analysis; however, they have disadvantages because testing in the submicroliter range is challenging, and increasing the number of samples is expensive. We propose a new microfluidic methodology that delivers the functionality of multiwell plates and pipettes at the nanoliter scale by utilizing drop coalescence and confinement-guided breakup in microfluidic parking networks (MPNs). Highly monodisperse arrays of drops obtained using a hydrodynamic self-rectification process are parked at prescribed locations in the device, and our method allows subsequent drop manipulations such as fine-gradation dilutions, reactant addition, and fluid replacement while retaining microparticles contained in the sample. Our devices operate in a quasistatic regime where drop shapes are determined primarily by the channel geometry. Thus, the behavior of parked drops is insensitive to flow conditions. This insensitivity enables highly parallelized manipulation of drop arrays of different composition, without a need for fine-tuning the flow conditions and other system parameters. We also find that drop coalescence can be switched off above a critical capillary number, enabling individual addressability of drops in complex MPNs. The platform demonstrated here is a promising candidate for conducting multistep biological assays in a highly multiplexed manner, using thousands of submicroliter samples.     

Zonotopic set-membership state estimation for switched systems

This paper proposes a new approach for set-membership state estimation of switched discrete-time linear systems subject to bounded disturbances and noises. A zonotopic outer approximation of the state estimation domain is computed and a new criterion is proposed to reduce the size of the zonotope at each sample time. The zonotopic set-membership estimator design for switched systems is provided within the LMI framework. The extension of the proposed scheme to deal with unknown inputs is also presented. An application to vehicle lateral dynamics state estimation is provided. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm and highlight its advantages over the existing methods.     

Switched controller design for stabilization of nonlinear hybrid systems with time-varying delays in state and control

This paper deals with the problem of stabilization for a class of hybrid systems with time-varying delays. The system to be considered is with nonlinear perturbation and the delay is time varying in both the state and control. Using an improved Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional combined with Newton–Leibniz formula, a memoryless switched controller design for exponential stabilization of switched systems is proposed. The conditions for the exponential stabilization are presented in terms of the solution of matrix Riccati equations, which allow for an arbitrary prescribed stability degree.     

A novel hybrid filter-based fault diagnosis algorithm for switched systems with a dual noise term

This study considers state and fault estimation for a switched system with a dual noise term. A zonotopic and Gaussian Kalman filter for state estimation is designed to obtain state estimation interval in the presence of both stochastic and unknown but bounded (UBB) uncertainties. The switching state and fault state of the system are distinguished by detecting whether the system measurement date is within the bounds of its predicted output. Once the switched time is detected in the system, the filter zonotopic and Gaussian Kalman functions are initialized. Once the fault time is detected, a zonotopic and Gaussian Kalman filter-based fault estimator is constructed to estimate the corresponding faults. Finally, a numerical simulation is presented to demonstrate the accuracy and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.     

Decentralized event-triggered H∞ control for switched systems with network communication delay

This paper is concerned with the decentralized event-triggered H_∞ control for switched systems subject to network communication delay and exogenous disturbance. Depending on different physical properties, the system state is divided into multiple communication channels and decentralized sensors are employed to collect signals on these channels. Furthermore, decentralized event-triggering mechanisms (DETMs) with a switching structure are proposed to determine whether the sampled data needs to be transmitted. In particular, an improved data buffer is presented which can guarantee more timely utilization of the sampled data. Then, with the proposed DETMs and data buffer, a time-delay closed-loop switched system is developed. After that, sufficient conditions are presented to guarantee the H_∞ performance of the closed-loop switched system by utilizing the average dwell time and piecewise Lyapunov functional method. Since the event-triggered instants and the switching instants may stagger with each other, the influence of their coupling on the H_∞ performance analysis is systematically discussed. Subsequently, sufficient conditions for designing the event-triggered state feedback controller gains are provided. Finally, numerical simulations are given to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.