Robust cooperative output regulation of heterogeneous uncertain linear multi-agent systems by intermittent communication

In this paper, we study the robust cooperative output regulation problem of heterogeneous linear multi-agent systems with system uncertainties and directed communication topology. A robust distributed event-triggered control scheme is proposed based on the internal model principle. To avoid continuous monitoring of measurement errors for the event-triggering condition, a novel self-triggered control scheme is further proposed. Moreover, by introducing a fixed timer in the triggering mechanisms, Zeno behavior can be excluded for each agent. An example is finally provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed self-triggered control scheme.     

Barrier Lyapunov function-based decentralized adaptive neural control for uncertain high-order stochastic nonlinear interconnected systems with output constraints

Decentralized adaptive neural backstepping control scheme is developed for uncertain high-order stochastic nonlinear systems with unknown interconnected nonlinearity and output constraints. For the control of high-order nonlinear interconnected systems, it is assumed that nonlinear system functions are unknown. It is for the first time to control stochastic nonlinear high-order systems with output constraints. Firstly, by constructing barrier Lyapunov functions, output constraints are handled. Secondly, at each recursive step, only one adaptive parameter is updated to overcome over-parameterization problems, and RBF neural networks are used to identify unknown nonlinear functions so that the difficulties caused by completely unknown system functions and stochastic disturbances are tackled. Finally, based on the Lyapunov stability method, the decentralized adaptive control scheme via neural networks approximator is proposed, ultimately reducing the number of learning parameters. It is shown that the designed controller can guarantee all the signals of the resulting closed-loop system to be semi-globally uniformly ultimately bounded (SGUUB), and the tracking errors for each subsystem are driven to a small neighborhood of zero. The simulation studies are performed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.     

Adaptive tracking control for nonlinear heterogeneous multi-agent systems with unknown dynamics

This paper is concerned with the tracking control problem for nonlinear heterogeneous multi-agent systems with a static leader, where the leader’s state is only available to a small portion of follower agents. The considered multi-agent system is composed of first- and second-order follower agents with unknown nonlinearities and unknown disturbances, and the communication graph of follower agents is fixed and directed. A robust adaptive neural network controller is designed for each follower agent. By applying the Lyapunov theory with the singular value analysis method, it is shown that all follower agents will synchronize to the leader agent with bounded residual errors. A numerical example is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the theoretical findings.     

Iterative learning control for boundary tracking of uncertain nonlinear wave equations

This work presents a framework of iterative learning control (ILC) design for a class of nonlinear wave equations. The main contribution lies in that it is the first time to extend the idea of well-established ILC for lumped parameter systems to boundary tracking control of nonlinear hyperbolic distributed parameter systems (DPSs). By fully utilizing the system repetitiveness, the proposed control algorithm is capable of dealing with time-space-varying and even state-dependent uncertainties. The convergence and robustness of the proposed ILC scheme are analyzed rigorously via the contraction mapping methodology and differential/integral constraints without any system dynamics simplification or discretization. In the end, two examples are provided to show the efficacy of the proposed control scheme.     

Distributed cooperative learning for a group of uncertain systems via output feedback and neural networks

This paper studies the problem of adaptive neural network (NN) output-feedback control for a group of uncertain nonlinear multi-agent systems (MASs) from the viewpoint of cooperative learning. It is assumed that all MASs have identical unknown nonlinear dynamic models but carry out different periodic control tasks, i.e., each agent system has its own periodic reference trajectory. By establishing a network topology among systems, we propose a new consensus-based distributed cooperative learning (DCL) law for the unknown weights of radial basis function (RBF) neural networks appearing in output-feedback control laws. The main advantage of such a learning scheme is that all estimated weights converge to a small neighborhood of the optimal value over the union of all system estimated state orbits. Thus, the learned NN weights have better generalization ability than those obtained by traditional NN learning laws. Our control approach also guarantees the convergence of tracking errors and the stability of closed-loop system. Under the assumption that the network topology is undirected and connected, we give a strict proof by verifying the cooperative persisting excitation condition of RBF regression vectors. This condition is defined in our recent work and plays a key role in analyzing the convergence of adaptive parameters. Finally, two simulation examples are provided to verify the effectiveness and advantages of the control scheme proposed in this paper.     

Robust multi-tracking of heterogeneous multi-agent systems with uncertain nonlinearities and disturbances

A robust multi-tracking problem is solved for heterogeneous multi-agent systems with uncertain nonlinearities and disturbances. The nonlinear function satisfies a Lipschitz condition with a time-varying gain, the integral of which is bounded by a linear function. A distributed impulsive protocol is proposed, where the position data and velocity data of desired trajectories are needed only at sampling instants. Based on the system decomposition technique, the error dynamic system of achieving multi-tracking is decomposed into two impulsive dynamic systems with vanishing perturbation and nonvanishing perturbation, respectively. Constructing a nominal model, then the multi-tracking problem is converted into the stability of impulsive dynamic system with nonvanishing perturbation under some conditions. It is proved that the proposed impulsive protocol is robust enough to solve the multi-tracking problem. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of our theoretical results.     

Improved decentralized prescribed performance control for non-affine large-scale systems with uncertain actuator nonlinearity

This work considers a decentralized control problem for non-affine large-scale systems with non-affine functions possibly being discontinuous. A semi-bounded condition for non-affine functions is presented to guarantee the controllability, and the non-affine system is transformed to an equivalent pseudo-affine one based on the mild condition. Different from conventional control schemes on specific actuator nonlinearity, the controller proposed in this paper can deal with a series of actuator nonlinearities such as backlash and deadzone nonlinearity. A time-varying stable manifold involving the tracking error and its high-order derivatives is utilized to handle the high-order dynamics of each subsystem. Besides an improved prescribed performance controller independent of the initial condition is constructed to ensure the finite-time convergence of the error manifold to a predefined region. The boundedness and convergence of the closed-loop system are proved by Lyapunov theory and the counter-evidence method. Two examples are performed to verify the theoretical findings.     

Adaptive neural network decentralized stabilization for nonlinear large scale interconnected systems with expanding construction

A backstepping-based adaptive neural network decentralized stabilization approach is presented for the expanding construction of a class of nonlinear large scale interconnected systems in this paper. The expanding construction of large scale interconnected systems is to add some new subsystems into the original system during the operation of the original system. For stabilization of the expanding system, it is more realistic to keep the decentralized control laws of the original subsystems unchanged. And the decentralized control laws of the new subsystems must be designed to stabilize both itself and the resultant large scale system. In this paper, neural networks are used to approximate the unknown nonlinear functions in the new subsystems and the unknown nonlinear interconnection functions. The decentralized control laws and the parameter adaptive laws of the new subsystems are designed by using backstepping technique for the expanding construction of the large-scale interconnected system. Based on Lyapunov stability theory, the uniform and ultimate boundedness of all signals in the closed-loop system is proved. Two illustrative examples show the feasibility of the presented approach.     

Observer-based fault detection for uncertain nonlinear systems

This paper addresses L₂ observer-based fault detection issues for a class of nonlinear systems in the presence of parametric and dynamic uncertainties, respectively. To this end, three different types of uncertain affine nonlinear system models studied in this paper are described first. Then, the integrated design schemes of L₂ observer-based fault detection systems are derived with the aid of Hamilton–Jacobi inequalities (HJIs), respectively. Numerical examples are also provided in the end to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed results.     

Command filter-based finite-time adaptive fuzzy control for nonlinear systems with uncertain disturbance

In this paper, a command filter-based adaptive fuzzy controller is constructed for a class of nonlinear systems with uncertain disturbance. By using the error compensation signals and fuzzy logic system, a command filter-based control strategy is presented to make that the tracking error converge to an any small neighborhood of zero and all closed-loop signals are bounded. In the design procedure, fuzzy logic system is employed to estimate unknown package nonlinear functions, which avoids excessive and burdensome computations. The control scheme not only resolves the explosion of complexity problem but also eliminates the filtering error in finite-time. An example has evaluated the validity of the control method.     

Pattern-based NN control for uncertain pure-feedback nonlinear systems

Implementing human-like learning and control for nonlinear dynamical systems operating in different control situations is an important and challenging issue. This paper presents a pattern-based neural network (NN) control strategy for nonlinear pure-feedback systems via deterministic learning (DL). Firstly, an appropriately designed adaptive neural dynamic surface controller is proposed to achieve the finite time tracking control. By analyzing the recurrent property of NN input signals, a partial persistent excitation (PE) condition for radial basis function (RBF) network is established, the implicit desired control dynamics under different control situations are accurately identified via DL in the case that the dimension of NN input is reduced. And a set of pattern-based experienced actual and virtual controllers is constructed using the learned knowledge. Secondly, to classify different control situations, when the system is operating in different control situations but controlled by current normal experienced controller, the dynamics of each subsystem are accurately identified via DL, n sets of dynamical estimators are constructed using the learned knowledge. Thirdly, in the recognition phase, n sets of residuals are achieved by comparing each set of estimators with the monitored system, sudden change in the control situation is rapidly recognized based on the principle of the earliest occurrence of the minimum residual. Finally, in the control phase, according to the recognition result, the correct experienced actual and virtual controllers will be selected to control the plant, guaranteed stability and superior control performance are achieved without any further re-adaptation online. Simulation studies are given to verify the proposed scheme can not only acquire and memorize knowledge like humans, but also reuse the learned knowledge to achieve rapid recognition and control of current control situation.     

Probabilistic fuzzy logic controller for uncertain nonlinear systems

This paper proposes a probabilistic fuzzy proportional - integral (PFPI) controller for controlling uncertain nonlinear systems. Firstly, the probabilistic fuzzy logic system (PFLS) improves the capability of the ordinary fuzzy logic system (FLS) to overcome various uncertainties in the controlled dynamical systems by integrating the probability method into the fuzzy logic system. Moreover, the input/output relationship for the proposed PFPI controller is derived. The resulting structure is equivalent to nonlinear PI controller and the equivalent gains for the proposed PFPI controller are a nonlinear function of input variables. These gains are changed as the input variables changed. The sufficient conditions for the proposed PFPI controller, which achieve the bounded-input bounded-output (BIBO) stability are obtained based on the small gain theorem. Finally, the obtained results indicate that the PFPI controller is able to reduce the effect of the system uncertainties compared with the fuzzy PI (FPI) controller.     

Data-driven adaptive optimal control of linear uncertain systems with unknown jumping dynamics

This paper focuses on the optimal control of a DC torque motor servo system which represents a class of continuous-time linear uncertain systems with unknown jumping internal dynamics. A data-driven adaptive optimal control strategy based on the integration of adaptive dynamic programming (ADP) and switching control is presented to minimize a predefined cost function. This takes the first step to develop switching ADP methods and extend the application of ADP to time-varying systems. Moreover, an analytical method to give the initial stabilizing controller for policy iteration ADP is proposed. It is shown that under the proposed adaptive optimal control law, the closed-loop switched system is asymptotically stable at the origin. The effectiveness of the strategy is validated via simulations on the DC motor system model.     

Decentralized low-complexity tracking of uncertain interconnected high-order nonlinear systems with unknown high powers

A global decentralized low-complexity tracker design methodology is proposed for uncertain interconnected high-order nonlinear systems with unknown high powers. It is assumed that interconnected nonlinearities are bounded by completely unknown nonlinearities, rather than, a linear combination of high-ordered state variables. Compared with the existing decentralized results for interconnected nonlinear systems with known high powers, the decentralized robust controller, which achieves the pre-designable transient and steady-state tracking performance for each subsystem, is designed by employing nonlinear error surfaces with time-varying performance functions, regardless of unknown nonlinear interactions and high powers related to virtual and actual control variables. The proposed decentralized continuous robust low-complexity tracker is realized without the use of any adaptive or function approximation techniques for estimating unknown parameters and nonlinearities. The stability and preassigned tracking performance of the resulting decentralized low-complexity control system are thoroughly analyzed in the Lyapunov sense. Finally, simulation results on coupled underactuated mechanical systems are provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed theoretical result.     

Observer-based fuzzy adaptive stabilization of uncertain switched stochastic nonlinear systems with input quantization

This paper proposes an observer-based fuzzy adaptive output feedback control scheme for a class of uncertain single-input and single-output (SISO) nonlinear stochastic systems with quantized input signals and arbitrary switchings. The SISO system under consideration contains completely unknown nonlinear functions, unmeasured system states and quantized input signals quantized by a hysteretic quantizer. By adopting a new nonlinear disposal of the quantized input, the relationship between the control input and the quantized input is established. The hysteretic quantizer that we take can effectively avoid the chattering phenomena. Furthermore, the introduction of a linear observer makes the estimation of the states possible. Based on the universal approximation ability of the fuzzy logic systems (FLSs) and backstepping recursive design with the common stochastic Lyapunov function approach, a quantized output feedback control scheme is constructed, where the dynamic surface control (DSC) is explored to alleviate the computation burden. The proposed control scheme cannot only guarantee the boundedness of signals but also make the output of the system converge to a small neighborhood of the origin. The simulation results are exhibited to demonstrate the validity of the control scheme.     

Robust event-driven tracking control with preassigned performance for uncertain input-quantized nonlinear pure-feedback systems

This paper presents a simplified design methodology for robust event-driven tracking control of uncertain nonlinear pure-feedback systems with input quantization. All nonlinearities and quantization parameters are assumed to be completely unknown. Different from the existing event-driven control approaches for systems with completely unknown nonlinearities, the main contribution of this paper is to design a simple event-based tracking scheme with preassigned performance, without the use of adaptive function approximators and adaptive mirror models. It is shown in the Lyapunov sense that the proposed event-driven low-complexity tracker consisting of nonlinearly transformed error surfaces and a triggering condition can achieve the preselected transient and steady-state performance of control errors in the presence of the input quantization.     

Adaptive learning tracking for uncertain systems with partial structure information and varying trial lengths

This paper considers the adaptive iterative learning control (ILC) for continuous-time parametric nonlinear systems with partial structure information under iteration-varying trial length environments. In particular, two types of partial structure information are taken into account. The first type is that the parametric system uncertainty can be separated as a combination of time-invariant and time-varying part. The second type is that the parametric system uncertainty mainly contains time-invariant part, whereas the designed algorithm is expected to deal with certain unknown time-varying uncertainties. A mixing-type adaptive learning scheme and a hybrid-type differential-difference learning scheme are proposed for the two types of partial structure information cases, respectively. The convergence analysis under iteration-varying trial length environments is strictly derived based on a novel composite energy function. Illustrative simulations are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed schemes.     

Adaptive fuzzy tracking control for switched uncertain strict-feedback nonlinear systems

This paper concerns an adaptive fuzzy tracking control problem for a class of switched uncertain nonlinear systems in strict-feedback form via the modified backstepping technique. The unknown nonlinear functions are approximated by the generalized fuzzy hyperbolic model (GFHM). It is shown that if the designed parameters in the controller and adaptive laws are appropriately selected, then all closed-loop signals are bounded and the stability of the system can be kept under average dwell time methods. In the end, simulation studies are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Adaptive neural design frame for uncertain stochastic nonlinear non-lower triangular pure-feedback systems with input constraint

This paper dedicates to dealing with the adaptive neural design problem for uncertain stochastic nonlinear systems with non-lower triangular pure-feedback form and input constraint. On the basis of the mean-value theorem, the pure-feedback structure is first transformed into the desired affine structure, and then the well-known backstepping technology is applied to construct the actual input signal of the controller. Although the considered system has a fairly complex structure, a new adaptive neural tracking controller design frame is established via the flexible application of radial basis function (RBF) neural networks’ (NNs’) structural characteristics. The proposed design frame guarantees the control objective of this paper can be achieved. Finally, a simulation example is given to further illustrate the availability of the proposed control scheme.     

Adaptive synchronization of unknown heterogeneous agents: An adaptive virtual model reference approach

This work deals with state synchronization of heterogeneous linear agents with unknown dynamics. The problem is solved by formulating the synchronization problem as a special model reference adaptive control where each agent tries to converge to the model defined by its neighbors. For those agents that do not know the reference signal that drives the flock, a fictitious reference is estimated in place of the actual one: the estimation of such reference is distributed and requires measurements from neighbors. By using a matching condition assumption, which is imposed so that the agents can converge to the same behavior, the fictitious reference estimation leads to adaptive laws for the feedback and the coupling gains arising from distributed matching conditions. In addition, the coupling connection is not scalar as in most literature, but possibly vector-valued. The proposed approach is applicable to heterogeneous agents with arbitrarily large matched uncertainties. A Lyapunov-based approach is derived to show analytically asymptotic convergence of the synchronization error: robustification in the presence of bounded errors or unknown (constant) leader input is also discussed. Finally, a motivational example is presented in the context of Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control and numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.