Compound tracking control based on MPC for quadrotors with disturbances

In this paper, a compound control strategy is proposed to realize the trajectory tracking task of quadrotors under operating constraints and disturbances. Disturbances caused by model uncertainties, environmental noises, and measurement disturbances are divided into matched disturbances and unmatched ones, which are compensated and suppressed separately by using two control components. The integral sliding mode control component is designed to actively reject the matched disturbances, and the control system is then transformed into an equivalent control system subject to equivalent disturbances only related to the unmatched disturbances. The remaining equivalent disturbances are treated by a robust model predictive control component based on the idea of constraints tightening, which minimizes the tracking error in an optimization framework and takes both state and input constraints into account explicitly. The derived compound control strategy is based on these two control components. Conditions are provided to guarantee the robust constraint satisfaction, recursive feasibility and closed-loop stability of the tracking error system. An illustrative example on the quadrotors shows the efficiency and robustness of this compound tracking control algorithm.     

On novel trajectory tracking control of quadrotor UAV: A finite-time guaranteed performance approach

In this work, aiming at the trajectory tracking control of the quadrotor UAV subject to external disturbances and model uncertainties, a finite-time approach with preassigned performance guaranteed is proposed. First, the control system is decoupled into translational and rotational subsystems. Then, in both two subsystems, the performance bounds constructed by the newly established appointed-time performance functions are devised for guaranteeing the tracking performance, and the controllers are designed via applying the dynamic surface control technique with integral barrier Lyapunov functions involved. Moreover, finite-time tracking differentiators and finite-time multivariable disturbance observers are exploited to estimate the target signals and the lumped disturbances, respectively. Finally, two examples of simulation are carried out to validate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed control method.     

Robust input shaping control for multi-mode flexible structures using neuro-sliding mode output feedback control

Input shaping provides an effective method for suppressing residual vibration of flexible structure systems. However, it is not very robust to parameter uncertainties and external disturbances. In this paper, a closed-loop input shaping method is developed for suppressing residual vibration of multi-mode flexible structure systems with parameter uncertainties and external disturbances. The proposed scheme integrates both input shaping control and discrete-time neuro-sliding mode output feedback control (NSMOFC). The input shaper is designed for the reference model and implemented outside of the feedback loop to achieve the exact elimination of residual vibration. In the feedback loop, the discrete-time NSMOFC technique is employed to make the closed-loop system behave like the reference model with input shaper, where the residual vibration is suppressed. The selection of switching surface and the existence of sliding mode have been addressed. The knowledge of upper bound of uncertainties is not required. Furthermore, it is shown that increasing the robustness to parameter uncertainties does not lengthen the duration of the impulse sequence. Simulation results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed closed-loop input shaping control scheme.     

Adaptive prescribed performance control of QUAVs with unknown time-varying payload and wind gust disturbance

In this paper, a new robust adaptive prescribed performance control (PPC, for short) scheme is proposed for quadrotor UAVs (QUAVs, for short) with unknown time-varying payloads and wind gust disturbances. Under the presented framework, the overall control system is decoupled into translational subsystem and rotational subsystem. These two subsystems are connected to each other through common attitude extraction algorithms. For translational subsystem, a novel robust adaptive PPC strategy is designed based on the sliding mode control technique to provide better trajectory tracking performance and well robustness. For rotational subsystem, a new robust adaptive controller is constructed based on backstepping technique to track the desired attitudes. Finally, the overall system is proved to be stable in the sense of uniform ultimate boundedness, and numerical simulation results are presented to validate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.     

Backstepping-based decentralized adaptive neural H∞ tracking control for a class of large-scale nonlinear interconnected systems

The decentralized tracking control methods for large-scale nonlinear systems are investigated in this paper. A backstepping-based robust decentralized adaptive neural H_∞ tracking control method is addressed for a class of large-scale strict feedback nonlinear systems with uncertain disturbances. Under the condition that the nonlinear interconnection functions in subsystems are unknown and mismatched, the decentralized adaptive neural network H_∞ tracking controllers are designed based on backstepping technology. Neural networks are used to approximate the packaged multinomial including the unknown interconnections and nonlinear functions in the subsystems as well as the derivatives of the virtual controls. The effect of external disturbances and approximation errors is attenuated by H_∞ tracking performance. Whether the external disturbances occur or not, the output tracking errors of the close-loop system are guaranteed to be bounded. A practical example is provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed control approach.     

Additive-state-decomposition-based model predictive tracking control for PMSM servo system with multiple disturbances

This paper presents an additive-state-decomposition-based model predictive tracking control and disturbance rejection method for a permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) servo system subject to unknown parameter perturbations, unmodeled dynamics, and time-varying load torque. The basic idea of this method is to equivalently decompose the original system into a primary system for handling the tracking control subproblem and a secondary system for dealing with the robust stabilization subproblem. A model predictive controller is designed for the primary system to achieve high-accuracy tracking of the reference speed. As for the secondary system, a novel high-order generalized extended state observer (HGESO) is constructed to estimate the multiple disturbances simultaneously, and a state feedback control law incorporating a disturbance compensator is developed to eliminate the adverse effect of the multiple disturbances on the system output. By combining the control inputs of the two subsystems together, the control objectives of the original system can be achieved. Both the stability criterion and design procedure of the closed-loop control system are developed. Finally, hardware-in-the-loop-based comparative experiments are conducted to demonstrate that the proposed method effectively suppresses the influence of the multiple disturbances on motor speed tracking accuracy and that the control system has both satisfactory dynamic performance and robustness.     

The composite-disturbance-observer based stochastic model predictive control for spacecrafts under multi-source disturbances

In this paper, the attitude control problem of the spacecraft system under input/state constraints and multi-source disturbances is investigated. A novel estimation method, composite-disturbance-observer (CDO), is proposed to provide an estimate for both modeled and unmodeled disturbances in an online manner. Based on the estimates provided by the CDO, the composite stochastic model predictive control (C-SMPC) scheme is designed for attitude control. The recursive feasibility of the C-SMPC method is guaranteed by reformulating the state and input constraints. Furthermore, the sufficient conditions are established to guarantee the stability of the overall closed-loop system. Finally, the simulation on the attitude control of the spacecraft is conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Stochastic model predictive control for linear systems with unbounded additive uncertainties

This paper presents two stochastic model predictive control methods for linear time-invariant systems subject to unbounded additive uncertainties. The new methods are developed by formulating the chance constraints into deterministic form, which are treated in analogy with robust constraints, by using the probabilistic reachable set. The first one is the time-varying tube-based stochastic model predictive control algorithm, which is designed by employing the time-varying probabilistic reachable sets as tubes. The second one is the constant tube-based stochastic model predictive control algorithm, which is developed by enforcing a constant tightened constraint in the entire prediction horizon. In addition, the soft constraints are proposed to associate with the state initialization in the algorithms to enhance the feasibility. The algorithm feasibility and closed-loop stability results are provided. The efficacy of the approaches is demonstrated by means of numerical simulations.     

Robust self-triggered MPC with fast convergence for constrained linear systems

In this paper, a robust self-triggered model predictive control (MPC) scheme is proposed for linear discrete-time systems subject to additive disturbances, state and control constraints. To reduce the amount of computation on controller sides, MPC optimization problems are only solved at certain sampling instants which are determined by a novel self-triggering mechanism. The main idea of the self-triggering mechanism is to choose inter-sampling times by guaranteeing a fast decrease in optimal costs. It implies a fast convergence of system states to a compact set where it is ultimately bounded and a reduction of computation times to stabilize the system. Once the state enters a terminal region, the system can be stabilized to a robust invariant set by a state feedback controller. Robust constraint satisfaction is ensured by utilizing the worst-case set-valued predictions of future states in such a way that recursive feasibility is guaranteed for all possible realisations of disturbances. In the case where a priority is given to reducing communication costs rather than improvement in control performance in a neighborhood of the origin, a feedback control law based on nominal state predictions is designed in the terminal region to avoid frequent feedback. Performances of the closed-loop system are demonstrated by a simulation example.     

Robust cascaded horizontal-plane trajectory tracking for fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles

This paper investigates the problem of horizontal-plane trajectory tracking for fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs) subjected to external disturbances and uncertainties including coupling and unmodeled dynamics. Under the assumption there exist ideal inner-loop controllers, the 12-state model is reduced to a 6-state translational motion model, which is described by a group of simplified nonlinear equations with equivalent disturbances via introducing general aerodynamic models. Then a new cascaded control structure consisting of an outer-loop controller for position control and inner-loop controllers for attitude and thrust control is proposed. Based on feedback linearization technology and signal compensation theory, the proposed controller applied for position control incorporates a nominal linear time-invariant controller and a robust compensator, the latter of which is introduced to restrain the effects of uncertainties and disturbances. The robust performance of the closed-loop system is proved. Actual experimental results conducted on a small fixed-wing aircraft demonstrate that the proposed control approach is effective.     

Discrete-time output feedback quasi-sliding mode control for robust tracking and model following of uncertain systems

A discrete-time output feedback quasi-sliding mode control scheme is proposed to realize the problem of robust tracking and model following for a class of uncertain linear systems in which states are unavailable and estimated states are not required. The proposed scheme guarantees the stability of the closed-loop system and achieves a very small ultimate boundedness of the tracking error in the presence of matched uncertain parameters and external slow disturbances. This scheme ensures the robustness to matched parametric uncertainties and disturbances. Since the proposed controller is designed without any switching element, the chattering phenomenon is eliminated. Furthermore, the knowledge of upper bound of uncertainties is not required. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.     

Distributed robust event-triggered adaptive control for a class of uncertain nonlinear multi-agent systems with actuator saturation

This paper studies the event-triggered consensus control problem for high-order uncertain nonlinear multi-agent systems with actuator saturation. By using a smooth Lipschitz function to approximate the saturation nonlinearity, an augment system and the Nussbaum function are adopted to deal with the residual terms of saturation nonlinearity based on adaptive backstepping method. Since excessive energy and communication resources will be consumed during the procedure to handle actuator saturation, two event-triggered mechanisms are proposed to save the communication resources and reduce the controllers’ update frequency. Whenever the triggered conditions are satisfied, the control signals transmitted to the actuators are updated and broadcasted to the neighboring area. A ’disturbance-like’ term is integrated so that the event-triggered control problem with actuator saturation can be transformed into a robust problem while the unknown disturbances are tackled by adaptive update laws. Moreover, the requirement for global communication topology known by all the agents is relaxed by introducing new estimators. All the signals in the closed-loop system are uniformly bounded and the consensus tracking errors are exponentially converged to a bounded set. Meanwhile, the Zeno behavior is excluded. Simulation results are employed to validate the advantages of our proposed methods.     

Intelligent control for robotic manipulator with adaptive learning rate and variable prescribed performance boundaries

The purpose of this study is to enhance the transient performance and mitigate the possible boundary-crossing issue during the design of a neural network-based intelligent prescribed performance control for robotic manipulators that suffer from input saturation. Initially, an auxiliary system is created utilizing the saturation signal, which is then used to modify the prescribed performance boundaries when saturation takes place. This ensures that the tracking errors adhere to the performance constraints even if the available control effort is limited. To further enhance the transient performance of the closed-loop system, a composite learning-based online identification scheme employing a Gaussian function to adaptively adjust the learning rate is utilized instead of a fixed-learning-rate weight updating law to train the neural network. This approach facilitates the reduction of the undesired weight oscillations at the beginning of the control process when the neural network is not sufficiently trained. Lastly, the stability of the closed-loop system is demonstrated by applying the Lyapunov approach, and simulation results support the effectiveness of the identification and control schemes proposed in this study.     

Adaptive iterative learning control for nonlinear pure-feedback systems with initial state error based on fuzzy approximation

In this paper, an iterative learning control strategy is presented for a class of nonlinear pure-feedback systems with initial state error using fuzzy logic system. The proposed control scheme utilizes fuzzy logic systems to learn the behavior of the unknown plant dynamics. Filtered signals are employed to circumvent algebraic loop problems encountered in the implementation of the existing controllers. Backstepping design technique is applied to deal with system dynamics. Based on the Lyapunov-like synthesis, we show that all signals in the closed-loop system remain bounded over a pre-specified time interval [0,T]. There even exist initial state errors, the norm of tracking error vector will asymptotically converge to a tunable residual set as iteration goes to infinity and the learning speed can be easily improved if the learning gain is large enough. A time-varying boundary layer is introduced to solve the problem of initial state error. A typical series is introduced in order to deal with the unknown bound of the approximation errors. Finally, two simulation examples show the feasibility and effectiveness of the approach.     

Quadcopter formation flight control combining MPC and robust feedback linearization

This paper presents an integrated and practical control strategy to solve the leader–follower quadcopter formation flight control problem. To be specific, this control strategy is designed for the follower quadcopter to keep the specified formation shape and avoid the obstacles during flight. The proposed control scheme uses a hierarchical approach consisting of model predictive controller (MPC) in the upper layer with a robust feedback linearization controller in the bottom layer. The MPC controller generates the optimized collision-free state reference trajectory which satisfies all relevant constraints and robust to the input disturbances, while the robust feedback linearization controller tracks the optimal state reference and suppresses any tracking errors during the MPC update interval. In the top-layer MPC, two modifications, i.e. the control input hold and variable prediction horizon, are made and combined to allow for the practical online formation flight implementation. Furthermore, the existing MPC obstacle avoidance scheme has been extended to account for small non-apriorily known obstacles. The whole system is proved to be stable, computationally feasible and able to reach the desired formation configuration in finite time. Formation flight experiments are set up in Vicon motion-capture environment and the flight results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed formation flight architecture.     

Prescribed performance tracking control of a free-flying flexible-joint space robot with disturbances under input saturation

Aiming at the trajectory tracking of a free-flying flexible-joint space robot (FFSR) with unknown time-varying disturbances and input saturation, we develop a robust control law with prescribed performance constraints via backstepping technique. A disturbance observer is employed to estimate the unknown time-varying disturbances and two auxiliary systems are introduced to handle input saturation. Moreover, we use the dynamic surface control (DSC) technique to deal with the complexity explosion caused by multiple derivatives of the virtual control signals. The performance function and transformation function are utilized to improve the tracking performance. It is proved that the designed control law can maintain the tracking error of the FFSR within a predefined region, while guaranteeing the uniform ultimate boundedness of all signals in the FFSR closed-loop control system. Finally, simulations are carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed prescribed performance tracking control.     

Probabilistic constraint tightening techniques for trajectory planning with predictive control

In order for automated mobile vehicles to navigate in the real world with minimal collision risks, it is necessary for their planning algorithms to consider uncertainties from measurements and environmental disturbances. In this paper, we consider analytical solutions for a conservative approximation of the mutual probability of collision between two robotic vehicles in the presence of such uncertainties. Therein, we present two methods, which we call unitary scaling and principal axes rotation, for decoupling the bivariate integral required for efficient approximation of the probability of collision between two vehicles including orientation effects. We compare the conservatism of these methods analytically and numerically. By closing a control loop through a model predictive guidance scheme, we observe through Monte-Carlo simulations that directly implementing collision avoidance constraints from the conservative approximations remains infeasible for real-time planning. We then propose and implement a convexification approach based on the tightened collision constraints that significantly improves the computational efficiency and robustness of the predictive guidance scheme.     

Event-triggered robust distributed nonlinear model predictive control using contraction theory

In this paper, we study the cooperation problem over a group of discrete-time nonlinear dynamically decoupled multi-agent systems (MAS). A distributed model predictive control (DMPC) scheme is proposed in the event-triggered context. Agents cooperate through a coupled cost function subject to input constraints. From the practical perspective, the additive disturbances are taken into account in the controller design. Using the contraction theory in the framework of Riemannian manifolds, a novel constraint is constructed in the DMPC optimization problem to provide the capability of disturbance rejection. Moreover, the event-triggered mechanism is introduced for saving computational and communicational resources. The event-triggering condition is developed by checking the Riemannian distance between the actual and optimal state trajectories. The stability of the closed-loop system and recursive feasibility of the DMPC scheme, thereafter, are rigorously analyzed. In particular, the stability analysis is built upon the contraction theory, which distinguishes this work from the existing results using the conventional Lyapunov theory. It is shown that the recursive feasibility is guaranteed if the additive disturbances are bounded and the event-triggering condition is properly designed. The numerical simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.     

Approximate decoupling and output tracking for MIMO nonlinear systems with mismatched uncertainties via ADRC approach

In this paper, we consider output tracking for a class of MIMO nonlinear systems which are composed of coupled subsystems with vast mismatched uncertainties. First, all uncertainties influencing the performance of controlled outputs, which include internal unmodelled dynamics, external disturbances, and uncertain nonlinear interactions between subsystems, are refined into the total disturbance in the control channels of subsystems. The total disturbance is shown to be sufficiently reflected in the measured output of each subsystem so that it can be estimated in real time by an extended state observer (ESO) in terms of the measured outputs. Second, we decouple approximately the MIMO systems by cancelling the total disturbance based on ESO estimation so that each subsystem becomes approximately independent linear time invariant one without uncertainty and interaction with other subsystems. Finally, we design an ESO based output feedback for each subsystem separately to ensure that the closed-loop state is bounded, and the closed-loop output of each subsystem tracks practically a given reference signal. This is completely in comply with the spirit of active disturbance rejection control (ADRC). Some numerical simulations are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed output feedback control scheme.     

Disturbance-observer-based control design for a class of uncertain systems with intermittent measurement

The robust control problem of a class of uncertain systems subject to intermittent measurement as well as external disturbances is considered. The disturbances are supposed to be generated by an exogenous system, while the state information is assumed to be available only on some nonoverlapping time intervals. A composite design consisting of an intermittent state feedback controller augmented by a disturbance compensation term derived from a disturbance observer is formulated. Unlike the conventional disturbance observers, the proposed disturbance observer is modelled by a switched impulsive system, which makes use of the intermittent state data to estimate the disturbances. Stability analysis of the resulting closed-loop system is performed by applying a piecewise time-dependent Lyapunov function. Then a sufficient condition for the existence of the proposed composite controllers is derived in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). The controller and observer gains can be achieved by solving a set of LMIs. Further, a procedure to limit the norms of the controller and observer gains is given. Finally, an illustrative example is presented to demonstrate the validity of the results.