Sampled-data control for time-delay systems

The sampled-data systems are hybrid ones involving continuous time and discrete time signals, which makes the traditional analysis and synthesis methodologies of time-delay systems unable to be directly used in the cases of hybrid systems with time-delay. The primary disadvantages of current design techniques of sampled-data control are their inabilities to deal effectively with time-delay and the model uncertainty. In this paper, we generalized the analysis methodology of time-delay systems to that of the hybrid systems with time-delay and uncertainty, which developed a design procedure of sampled-data control for time-delay systems. Asymptotic stability of the time-delay hybrid systems was developed. The time-delay dependent robust sampled-data control for the time-varying delay of an uncertain linear system was then discussed. The results were described as linear matrix inequalities, which can be solved using newly released LMITool.     

Parameter estimation on linear time-varying systems

This paper studies parameter estimation for a class of linear, continuous, time-varying dynamic systems whose state-space model's matrices are affine combinations of static matrix coefficients and the aforementioned time-varying scalar parameters. It is assumed that the coefficient matrices are all known, that the state is mensurable, and that the parameters are bounded piecewise continuous functions of time. Estimation methods are developed from basic equations for a single parameter first, and later extended to multiple parameters.     

Adaptive control for uncertain nonlinear time-delay systems in a lower-triangular form

In the presence of uncertain time-varying control coefficients, structuring parameter uncertainty and unknown state time delay, this paper proposes a continuous feedback control scheme for highly nonlinear systems without extra nonlinear growth restriction. An expansion of the backstepping method is presented based on dynamic gains and tuning functions. By Lyapunov–Krasovskii functionals, a delay-free controller is designed to regulate the original system states to zero with the other states being globally bounded.     

Affine formation control for multi-agent systems with prescribed convergence time

In this paper, the affine formation control problem for multi-agent systems with prescribed convergence time is investigated. Firstly, on the basis of a time-varying scaling function, a distributed continuous control algorithm is designed, under which a stationary affine formation of the nominal configuration is able to be achieved within a prescribed time. Secondly, to track a time-varying formation within the prescribed time, a distributed control protocol is proposed by employing a leader–follower control strategy. Furthermore, the boundary layer technique is adopted to avoid chattering effect. Finally, simulation examples are provided to demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed design.     

Finite-time consensus for nonlinear multi-agent systems with time-varying delay: An auxiliary system approach

This paper investigates the finite-time consensus problem of uncertain nonlinear multi-agent systems with asymmetric time-varying delays and directed communication topology. An auxiliary system is firstly designed to deal with the continuous or discontinuous time-varying communication delays. Based on the finite-time input-to-output framework, a novel consensus scheme relying on local delayed information exchange is proposed. Moreover, by utilizing an auxiliary integrated regressor matrix and vector method, the system uncertainties can be accurately estimated. Then the consensus of multi-agent systems can be achieved within finite time by selecting the control gains simply. Finally, numerical simulations are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control algorithms.     

Quantized control of event-triggered networked systems with time-varying delays

The paper is a study of quantized control for stochastic Markov jump systems with interval time-varying delays and bounded system noise under event-triggered mechanism. A new scheme of Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional which contains the quadratic terms and integral terms is presented. Then quadratic convex technology, the theory of stochastic switching system, and logarithmic quantizer are applied to this paper. The design of quantized controller is obtained with those methodologies. Different from previous results, our derivation applies the idea of second-order convex combination. The conservatism of stability criteria for systems is reduced by using this method. A numerical example under different conditions is given to demonstrate the effectiveness and validity of the new design techniques.     

Improved stability criteria for linear systems with time-varying delays

This paper is concerned with the stability analysis of linear systems with time-varying delays. First, by introducing the quadratic terms of time-varying delays and some integral vectors, a more suitable Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional (LKF) is constructed. Second, two new delay-dependent estimation methods are developed in the stability analysis of linear system with time-varying delays, which include a reciprocally convex matrix inequality and an integral inequality. More information about time-varying delays and more free matrices are introduced into the two estimation approaches, which play a key role for obtaining an accurate upper bound of the integral terms in time derivative of LKFs. Third, based on the novel LKFs and new estimation approaches, some less conservative criteria are derived in the form of linear matrix inequality (LMI). Finally, three numerical examples are applied to verify the advantages and effectiveness of the newly proposed methods.     

Cooperative containment control in time-delayed multi-agent systems with discrete-time high-order dynamics under dynamically changing topologies

This paper addresses the containment control problem for discrete-time high-order multi-agent systems (MASs) with dynamically changing topologies and time-varying delays. By considering the influence of switching topologies, a distributed containment control protocol that only involves the agent’s own information and its neighbors’ partial information is given to make all the followers enter and keep moving in the convex hull formed by the static leaders. A novel technique is employed to transform the high-order MAS with dynamically changing topologies into a switched augmented system with nonnegative coefficient matrices, and then convert the convergence problem of the switched augmented system to a product problem of infinite time-varying row stochastic matrices. With the help of graph theory and the properties of stochastic indecomposable and aperiodic (SIA) matrices, a sufficient condition in terms of communication topologies is derived, that is, the high-order containment control with dynamically changing topologies and time-varying delays can be achieved if the union of the effective communication topologies across any time intervals with some given length contains a spanning forest rooted at the leaders. Finally, computer simulations are conducted to illustrate the efficiency of the theoretical findings.     

Orthogonal functions approach to optimal control of delay systems with reverse time terms

Using block-pulse functions (BPFs)/shifted Legendre polynomials (SLPs) a unified approach for computing optimal control law of linear time-varying time-delay systems with reverse time terms and quadratic performance index is discussed in this paper. The governing delay-differential equations of dynamical systems are converted into linear algebraic equations by using operational matrices of orthogonal functions (BPFs and SLPs). The problem of finding optimal control law is thus reduced to the problem of solving algebraic equations. One example is included to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed approach.     

Robust stability of uncertain second-order linear time-varying systems

This paper is concerned with robust stability analysis of second-order linear time-varying (SLTV) systems with time-varying uncertainties (perturbations). With the specific Lyapunov functions, a simple and neat algebraic criterion for testing uniformly asymptotic stability of SLTV systems are derived. Without transformation to a system of first-order equations, the new conditions are imposed directly on the time-varying coefficient matrices of the system. The main feature of the proposed algebraic criterion is that the uncertain coefficient matrices are time-varying and not necessarily symmetric. Finally, the proposed stability conditions are used to design the extending space structures system of the spacecraft. Simulation results are provided to illustrate the convenience and effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Advanced controller synthesis for fuzzy parameter varying systems

A novel nonlinear time-varying model termed as the fuzzy parameter varying (FPV) system is proposed in this research, which inherits both advantages of the conventional T-S fuzzy system in dealing with nonlinear plants and strengths of the linear parameter varying (LPV) system in handling time-varying features. It is, therefore, an attractive mathematical model to efficiently approximate a nonlinear time-varying plant or to serve as a type of time-varying controller. Using the full block S-procedure, sufficient stability conditions have been derived in the form of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) to test quadratic stability of the open-loop FPV system. Moreover, sufficient conditions have been derived on synthesizing both state feedback and dynamical output feedback fuzzy gain-scheduling controllers that can stabilize the FPV system. An inverted pendulum with a variable length pole is utilized to demonstrate advantages of the FPV system compared to the conventional T-S fuzzy system in representing a practical time-varying nonlinear plant and to validate the controller synthesis conditions.     

Dissipative observers for discrete-time nonlinear systems

This paper addresses the problem of designing a state observer for a class of nonlinear discrete-time systems using the dissipativity theory. We show that the dissipative observation methodology, originally proposed by one of the authors for continuous-time nonlinear systems, can be extended to the discrete-time case. For constructing a convergent observer, the methodology is applied to the nonlinear estimation error dynamics, which is decomposed into a discrete-time Linear Time-Invariant (LTI) subsystem in the forward loop, connected to a time-varying static nonlinearity in the feedback loop. In order to assure asymptotic stability of the closed-loop, complementary dissipativity conditions are imposed on each of the subsystems: (i) the static nonlinearity is required to be dissipative with respect to a quadratic supply rate, and (ii) the observer gains are designed such that the LTI system is dissipative with respect to a complementary supply rate. As in the continuous time framework, the proposed method includes as special cases, unifies and generalizes some observer design methods proposed previously in the literature. A great advantage of the Dissipative Observer Design Method proposed here is that it leads to Matrix Inequalities for the design of the observer gains, and these can be usually converted into Linear Matrix Inequalities (LMI’s). The results are illustrated using Chua’s Chaotic system.     

Predefined-time practical consensus for multi-agent systems via event-triggered control

This paper studies the predefined-time practical consensus problem for multiple single-integrator systems through event-triggered control. A new kind of time-varying functions is firstly proposed. Then, new event-triggered control inputs as well as triggering conditions are designed on the basis of the time-varying function and the local broadcasted states. In particular, the control scheme is fully-distributed because no global information of the system and the communication topology is needed. Furthermore, the consensus analysis is presented based on a sufficient condition for predefined-time practical stability. It illustrates that practical consensus can be ensured with a completely pre-specified time. Besides, the exclusion of Zeno behavior at all the time instants is addressed. Numerical results verify the validity of the obtained control method.     

Decentralized continuous MRAC with local asymptotic sliding modes of nonlinear delayed interconnected systems

In this contribution, we develop continuous completely decentralized state-feedback adaptive controllers with sliding mode for a class of large-scale interconnected systems with nonlinear interconnections with unknown time-varying state delays. The novel contribution of this paper is that asymptotically exact tracking within the framework of completely decentralized direct continuous adaptive control is possible also for a class of nonlinear plants with matched interconnections and disturbances.     

New fractional-order integral inequalities: Application to fractional-order systems with time-varying delay

In this paper, the problem of delay-dependent stability analysis of fractional-order systems with time-varying delay is investigated. First, a class of novel fractional-order integral inequalities for quadratic functions by constructing appropriate auxiliary functions is proposed, which has been proven to be useful in analyzing fractional-order systems with time-varying delay. Based on these proposed inequalities, the Lyapunov–Krasovskii functions are designed to deal with the time-varying delay terms, reducing the conservatism of the stability criteria. Furthermore, delay-dependent criteria are derived to achieve asymptotic stability of fractional-order systems with time-varying delay. Finally, two examples are provided to illustrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed stability criteria.     

New results on linear parameter-varying time-delay systems

A class of linear parameter-varying time-delay systems where the state-space matrices depend on time-varying parameters and the time-delay is unknown but bounded is considered. Both notions of quadratic stability (using a single quadratic Lyapunov-Krasovskii function) and affine quadratic stability (using parameter-dependent Lyapunov-Krasovskii functions) are investigated. LMI-based delay-independent and delay-dependent conditions are derived for stability testing. Then, state-feedback controllers are designed which guarantee quadratic stability and an induced L₂-norm bound. We use a parameter-independent quadratic Lyapunov-Krasovskii function for the case of dynamic output feedback control to develop LMI-based solvability conditions which are evaluated at the extreme points of the admissible parameter set. Numerical examples are presented.     

Fraction dynamic-surface-based adaptive neural finite-time control for stochastic nonlinear systems subject to unknown control directions,time-varying input delay and state delay

In this paper, an adaptive neural finite-time tracking control is studied for a category of stochastic nonlinearly parameterized systems with multiple unknown control directions, time-varying input delay, and time-varying state delay. To this end, a novel criterion of semi-globally finite-time stability in probability (SGFSP) is proposed, in the sense of Lyapunov, for stochastic nonlinear systems with multiple unknown control directions. Secondly, a novel auxiliary system with finite-time convergence is presented to cope with the time-varying input delay, the appropriate Lyapunov Krasovskii functionals are utilized to compensate for the time-varying state delay, Nussbaum functions are exploited to identify multiple unknown control directions, and the neural networks (NNs) are applied to approximate the unknown functions of nonlinear parameters. Thirdly, the fraction dynamic surface control (FDSC) technique is embedded in the process of designing the controller, which not only the “explosion of complexity” problems are successfully avoided in traditional backstepping methods but also the command filter convergence can be obtained within a finite time to lead greatly improved for the response speed of command filter. Meanwhile, the error compensation mechanism is established to eliminate the errors of the command filter. Then, based on the proposed novel criterion, all closed-loop signals of the considered systems are SGPFS under the designed controller, and the tracking error can drive to a small neighborhood of the origin in a finite time. In the end, three simulation examples are applied to demonstrate the validity of the control method.     

H∞ finite time control for discrete time-varying system with interval time-varying delay

This paper discusses the problem of H_∞ finite time control for a discrete time-varying system with interval time-varying delay. By constructing a new augmented time-varying Lyapunov functional involving triple summation items and using discrete Wirtinger-type inequalities, delay-dependent conditions are derived, which guarantee that the closed-loop system is not only finite time bounded (FTB) but also satisfies an H_∞ performance. Furthermore, the time-varying feedback controller can be derived by solving a series of recursive linear matrix inequalities (RLMIs). Simulation results show the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method.     

Optimal control for linear systems with time delay in control input

This paper presents the optimal regulator for a linear system with time delay in control input and a quadratic cost function. The optimal regulator equations are obtained using the duality principle, which is applied to the optimal filter for linear systems with time delay in observations, and then proved using the maximum principle. Performance of the obtained optimal regulator is verified in the illustrative example against the best linear regulator available for linear systems without delays. Simulation graphs and comparison tables demonstrating better performance of the obtained optimal regulator are included.     

Gain-scheduled PI tracking control on stochastic nonlinear systems with partially known transition probabilities

This paper studies the problem of continuous gain-scheduled PI tracking control on a class of stochastic nonlinear systems subject to partially known jump probabilities and time-varying delays. First, gradient linearization procedure is used to construct model-based linear stochastic systems in the vicinity of selected operating states. Next, based on stochastic Lyapunov stabilization analysis, sufficient conditions for the existence of a PI tracking control are established for each linear model in terms of linear matrix inequalities. Finally, continuous gain-scheduled approach is employed to design continuous nonlinear PI tracking controllers on the entire nonlinear jump system. Simulation example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of the developed design techniques.