EG4321/EG7040

Nonlinear Control

Dr. Matt Turner

Brief intro to adaptive control
Adaptive Control
A nonlinear control method
Basic idea: allows a system to be controlled with minimal
information
Has been successfully used in the US aero industry

Aims of Lecture
1. To introduce the underlying ideas of direct adaptive control
2. To discuss pros and cons of the approach
What is adaptive control?
A control system in which the controllers parameters are updated
(adapted) according to its in environment
- Radically different to other most approaches
Linear control: all controller parameters are fixed
NDI: all controller parameters are fixed

Two distinct strands of adaptive control

1. Direct adaptive control
Controller parameters are updated adapted from measurement data
2. Indirect adaptive control
Plant parameters estimated and used to update controller parameters
(may include an online controller re-design)

Focus on direct adaptive control

Why adaptive control?
Potential benefits:
Does not need much information about the plant for design

The obvious costs of adaptive control

Why adaptive control?
Potential benefits:
Does not need much information about the plant for design
If plant changes, controller can change

The obvious costs of adaptive control

Why adaptive control?
Potential benefits:
Does not need much information about the plant for design
If plant changes, controller can change
May provide better performance than a linear controller

The obvious costs of adaptive control

Why adaptive control?
Potential benefits:
Does not need much information about the plant for design
If plant changes, controller can change
May provide better performance than a linear controller

The obvious costs of adaptive control

Control system typically more complex
Why adaptive control?
Potential benefits:
Does not need much information about the plant for design
If plant changes, controller can change
May provide better performance than a linear controller

The obvious costs of adaptive control

Control system typically more complex
Controller nonlinear: stability/performance issues
Why adaptive control?
Potential benefits:
Does not need much information about the plant for design
If plant changes, controller can change
May provide better performance than a linear controller

The obvious costs of adaptive control

Control system typically more complex
Controller nonlinear: stability/performance issues
No direct handle on evolution of controller
Adaptive Stabilisation - basic idea
Consider system

x = Ax + Bu

Assume that
1. u R (B is a column vector)
2. (A, B) controllable; A unknown, B known.
3. States available for feedback
Implications:
(A, B) controllable K such that

A + BK is stable

This then implies that P > 0 such that

(A + BK ) P + P(A + BK ) < 0
Extra assumption: Given Ac there exists a K such that

Ac = A + BK Ac P + PAc = Q < 0
Adaptive Stabilisation - Adaptive Control law
Choose adaptive control law as

u(t) = K (t)x(t)

K (t) is time-varying matrix gain, evolving according to

K (t) = x(x PB) > 0

Note that (x PB) is a scalar

Notes:
By assumption we know B
By assumption there exists a K such that Ac = A + BK
we know P

Implication:
We just need to choose - rate of adaptation
Adaptive stabilisation - stability proof
1. Re-write dynamics

x = Ax + B(K (t) x) = Ax + B(K (t) + K K )x

= (A + BK )x + B K (t) K x
| {z }
K

2. Choose Lyapunov function

V (x, K ) = x Px + K 1 K

3. Differentiate

V = 2x P[(A + BK )x + BK x] + 2K 1 K
= x [(A + BK ) P + P(A + BK )]x + 2x PBK x+
2K 1 (x(x PB))
= x (Ac P + PAc )x + 2x PBK x 2K x(x PB)

= x (Ac P + PAc )x 0
Adaptive stabilisation - comments
Lyapunov function is negative semi-definite
States, x(t), and controller gains, K (t) are bounded
In fact, can prove convergence of states (Barbalats Lemma)
Adaptive control proves stability
Can be extended to providing tracking performance (MRAC)
Pitfalls to adaptive control
Adaptive control seems to good to be true....it is!
Assumptions are quite strong in most circumstances
Strong assumptions on structure (although can be relaxed)
State-feedback must be available (may not work with observer)
No consideration of un-modelled dynamics
Difficult to quantify performance/robustness
Nevertheless: adaptive control is useful in systems where structure
is known well