Some Kharitonov-like robust Hurwitz stability criteria are established for a class of complex polynomial families with nonlinearly correlated perturbations. These results are extended to the polynomial matrix case and non-interval D-stability case. Applications of these results in testing of robust strict positive realness of real and complex interval transfer function families are also presented.
Robust stability and stochastic stability have separately seen intense study in control theory for many decades. In this work we establish relations between these properties for discrete-time systems and employ them for robust control design. Specifically, we examine a multiplicative noise framework which models the inherent uncertainty and variation in the system dynamics which arise in model-based learning control methods such as adaptive control and reinforcement learning. We provide results which guarantee robustness margins in terms of perturbations on the nominal dynamics as well as algo…
In this paper we deal with a robust Stackelberg strategy for the Navier--Stokes system. The scheme is based in considering a robust control problem for the "follower control" and its associated disturbance function. Afterwards, we consider the notion of Stackelberg optimization (which is associated to the "leader control") in order to deduce a local null controllability result for the Navier--Stokes system.
Model Predictive Control (MPC) is the principal control technique used in industrial applications. Although it offers distinguishable qualities that make it ideal for industrial applications, it can be questioned its robustness regarding model uncertainties and external noises. In this paper we propose a robust MPC controller that merges the simplicity in the design of MPC with added robustness. In particular, our control system stems from the idea of adding robustness in the prediction phase of the algorithm through a specific robust Kalman filter recently introduced. Notably, the overall res…
In this paper, we present some controllability results for the heat equation in the framework of hierarchic control. We present a Stackelberg strategy combining the concept of controllability with robustness: the main control (the leader) is in charge of a null-controllability objective while a secondary control (the follower) solves a robust control problem, this is, we look for an optimal control in the presence of the worst disturbance. We improve previous results by considering that either the leader or follower control acts on a small part of the boundary. We also present a discussion abo…
In this study, we detail the procedures for designing gain scheduling controllers by Linear Quadratic $H_\infty$ robust optimization methods in Linear Matrix Inequalities (LMI) framework. The controllers are aimed at steering control of the autonomous vehicles. We first construct the Linear Parameter Varying (LPV) vehicle models and synthesize the robust controllers with uncertainty and nominal plants. We choose static output and state feedback controller structure to avoid higher order controllers considering implementation issues. The robust control problems are solved by using different LMI…
In this paper, we propose a novel approach to synthesize linear feedback controllers for navigating in polygonal environments using noisy measurements and a convex cell decomposition. Our method is based on formulating chance constraints for the convergence and collision avoidance condition. In particular, the stability and safety guarantees come from chance Control Barrier Function (CBF) constraints and chance Control Lyapunov Function (CLF) constraints, respectively. We use convex over-approximations to get upper bounds of the constraints, leading to a convex robust quadratic program for fin…
We study the robust output regulation of linear boundary control systems by constructing extended systems. The extended systems are established based on solving static differential equations under two new conditions. We first consider the abstract setting and present finite-dimensional reduced order controllers. The controller design is then used for particular PDE models: high-dimensional parabolic equations and beam equations with Kelvin-Voigt damping. Numerical examples will be presented using Finite Element Method.
We describe a robust multiperiod transmission plan- ning model including renewables and batteries, where battery output is used to partly offset renewable output deviations from forecast. A central element is a nonconvex battery operation model which is used with a robust model of forecast errors and a linear control scheme. Even though the problem is nonconvex we provide an efficient and theoretically valid algorithm that effectively solves cases on large transmission systems. Index Terms. Batteries, control, robust optimization.
The effects of model parameter uncertainty on traffic flow control problems have recently drawn research attention. While the uncertainty in fundamental diagram related parameters has been investigated in the past, few articles have focused on network parameters uncertainty, including turning ratio uncertainty. To fill this gap, this article proposes a robust control model to deal with the uncertainties in the turning ratio by using distributionally robust chance constraints. The model allows one to compute the optimal control action that maximizes some objective, under all possible distributi…
We discuss strategies to bring $H_\infty$-control techniques into play when the system dynamics are modeled by hyperbolic partial differential equations, or more generally, by systems with non-sectorial pole pattern.
The conceptually new approach based on the logarithmic norm to design of robust adaptive state-feedback controller for linear time-varying (LTV) systems under system's modeling uncertainty and nonlinear external disturbance is proposed. This controller, consisting of two independent parts - adaptive and robust ones - globally asymptotically stabilizes every LTV system regardless how large the disturbance is.
For constrained linear systems with bounded disturbances and parametric uncertainty, we propose a robust adaptive model predictive control strategy with online parameter estimation. Constraints enforcing persistently exciting closed loop control actions are introduced for a set-membership parameter identification scheme. The algorithm requires the online solution of a convex program, satisfies constraints robustly, and ensures recursive feasibility and input-to-state stability. Almost sure convergence to the actual system parameters is demonstrated under assumptions on stabilizability, reachab…
In this paper we propose a constrained guaranteed cost robust model predictive controller (GCMPC) for uncertain discrete time systems. This controller was developed based on a quadratic cost functional and guarantee robustness with respect to quadratically bound uncertainties. Such a class of problems is currently intractable by Min-Max Robust Model Predictive Controllers without polytopic approximations of the uncertainties. The proposed technique is computationally more efficient then an enumeration-based approach and requires only a Quadratically Constrained Quadratic Problem (QCQP) optimiz…
This paper provides a new method to solve analytic interpolation problems with rationality and derivative constraints, occurring in many applications to system and control. It is based on the covariance extension equation previously proposed by Byrnes and Lindquist in a different context. A complete solution for the scalar problem is provided, and a homotopy continuation method is presented and applied to some problems in modeling and robust control. Some numerical examples illustrate robustness and efficiency of the proposed procedure.
In this article the robust Stackelberg controllability (RSC) problem is studied for a nonlinear fourth-order parabolic equation, namely, the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation. When three external sources are acting into the system, the RSC problem consists essentially in combining two subproblems: the first one is a saddle point problem among two sources. Such an sources are called the "follower control" and its associated "disturbance signal". This procedure corresponds to a robust control problem. The second one is a hierarchic control problem (Stackelberg strategy), which involves the third for…
We propose a robust adaptive Model Predictive Control (MPC) strategy with online set-based estimation for constrained linear systems with unknown parameters and bounded disturbances. A sample-based test applied to predicted trajectories is used to ensure convergence of parameter estimates by enforcing a persistence of excitation condition on the closed loop system. The control law robustly satisfies constraints and has guarantees of feasibility and input-to-state stability. Convergence of parameter set estimates to the actual system parameter vector is guaranteed under conditions on reachabili…
Robust $H_{\infty}$ Loop-Shaping Differential Thrust Control Methodology for Lateral/Directional Stability of an Aircraft with a Damaged Vertical Stabilizer
In this paper, we study a data-enabled predictive control (DeePC) algorithm applied to unknown stochastic linear time-invariant systems. The algorithm uses noise-corrupted input/output data to predict future trajectories and compute optimal control policies. To robustify against uncertainties in the input/output data, the control policies are computed to minimize a worst-case expectation of a given objective function. Using techniques from distributionally robust stochastic optimization, we prove that for certain objective functions, the worst-case optimization problem coincides with a regular…
Robust controller synthesis attracts reviving research interest, driven by the rise of learning-based systems where uncertainty and perturbation are ubiquitous. Facing an uncertain situation, a robustly stabilizing controller should maintain stability while operating under a perturbed system deviating from its nominal specification. There have been numerous results for robust controller synthesis in multiple forms and with various goals, including mu-synthesis, robust primal-dual Youla, robust input-output, and robust system level parameterizations. However, their connections with one another …
We present a robust Distributed and Localized Model Predictive Control (rDLMPC) framework for large-scale structured linear systems. The proposed algorithm uses the System Level Synthesis to provide a distributed closed-loop model predictive control scheme that is robust to exogenous disturbances. The resulting controllers require only local information exchange for both synthesis and implementation. We exploit the fact that for polytopic disturbance constraints, SLS- based distributed control problems have been shown to have structure amenable for distributed optimization techniques. We show …
Despite decades of research and recent progress in adaptive control and reinforcement learning, there remains a fundamental lack of understanding in designing controllers that provide robustness to inherent non-asymptotic uncertainties arising from models estimated with finite, noisy data. We propose a robust adaptive control algorithm that explicitly incorporates such non-asymptotic uncertainties into the control design. The algorithm has three components: (1) a least-squares nominal model estimator; (2) a bootstrap resampling method that quantifies non-asymptotic variance of the nominal mode…
The aim of this paper is to perform a Stackelberg strategy to control parabolic equations. We have one control, \textit{the leader}, that is responsible for a null controllability property; additionally, we have a control \textit{the follower} that solves a robust control objective. That means, that we seek for a saddle point of a cost functional. In this way, the follower control is not sensitive to a broad class of external disturbances. As far as we know, the idea of combining robustness with a Stackelberg strategy is new in literature
This paper presents a robust data-driven controller design based on the noisy input-output data without assumptions on the statistical properties of the noises. We start with the direct data-representation of system models that take elements from behavioral system theory, followed by analyses of the upper bound of the "modeling" error with the data representation with presence of noises. Some pre-conditioning methods are put into the context based on how the derived bound is structured. We lastly leverage the upper bound to develop robust controllers that ride through the data noises.
The paper deals with local robust feedback synthesis for systems with multidimensional control and unknown bounded perturbations. Using V.~I.~Korobov's controllability function method, we construct a bounded control which steers an arbitrary initial point to the origin in some finite time; an estimate from above for the time of motion is given. We have found the range of a segment where the perturbations can vary. As an example we consider the problem of stopping the oscillations of the system of two coupled pendulums.
We will give general sufficient conditions under which a controller achieves robust regulation for a boundary control and observation system. Utilizing these conditions we construct a minimal order robust controller for an arbitrary order impedance passive linear port-Hamiltonian system. The theoretical results are illustrated with a numerical example where we implement a controller for a one-dimensional Euler-Bernoulli beam with boundary controls and boundary observations.
We use a non-smooth trust-region method for $H_\infty$-control of infinite-dimensional systems. Our method applies in particular to distributed and boundary control of partial differential equations. It is computationally attractive as it avoids the use of system reduction or identification. For illustration the method is applied to control a reaction-convection-diffusion system, a Van de Vusse reactor, and to a cavity flow control problem.
Carnegie Mellon University（卡内基梅隆大学）；Johns Hopkins University（约翰斯·霍普金斯大学）；Bosch Center for AI（博世人工智能中心）
When designing controllers for safety-critical systems, practitioners often face a challenging tradeoff between robustness and performance. While robust control methods provide rigorous guarantees on system stability under certain worst-case disturbances, they often yield simple controllers that perform poorly in the average (non-worst) case. In contrast, nonlinear control methods trained using deep learning have achieved state-of-the-art performance on many control tasks, but often lack robustness guarantees. In this paper, we propose a technique that combines the strengths of these two appro…
We consider a robust impulse control problem in finite horizon where the underlying uncertainty stems from an impulsively and continuously controlled functional stochastic differential equation (FSDE) driven by Brownian motion. We assume that the controller acts upon the system by impulses while the adversary player (nature) acts through continuous controls. We look for a weak solution which leads us to consider a system of sequentially interconnected, obliquely reflected backward stochastic differential equations (RBSDEs) with stochastic Lipschitz coefficients. We show existence of solutions …
We present D-Phi iteration: an algorithm for distributed, localized, and scalable robust control of systems with structured uncertainties. This algorithm combines the System Level Synthesis (SLS) parametrization for distributed control with stability criteria from L1, LInf, and nu robust control. We show in simulation that this algorithm achieves good nominal performance while greatly increasing the robust stability margin compared to the LQR controller. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first distributed and localized algorithm for structured robust control; furthermore, algorithm com…
Appropriate greenhouse temperature should be maintained to ensure crop production while minimizing energy consumption. Even though weather forecasts could provide a certain amount of information to improve control performance, it is not perfect and forecast error may cause the temperature to deviate from the acceptable range. To inherent uncertainty in weather that affects control accuracy, this paper develops a data-driven robust model predictive control (MPC) approach for greenhouse temperature control. The dynamic model is obtained from thermal resistance-capacitance modeling derived by the…
In this paper we propose a new methodology for solving an uncertain stochastic Markovian control problem in discrete time. We call the proposed methodology the adaptive robust control. We demonstrate that the uncertain control problem under consideration can be solved in terms of associated adaptive robust Bellman equation. The success of our approach is to the great extend owed to the recursive methodology for construction of relevant confidence regions. We illustrate our methodology by considering an optimal portfolio allocation problem, and we compare results obtained using the adaptive rob…
We detail in this article the necessity of a change of paradigm for the delay-robust control of systems composed of two linear first order hyperbolic equations. One must go back to the classical trade-off between convergence rate and delay-robustness. More precisely, we prove that, for systems with strong reflections, canceling the reflection at the actuated boundary will yield zero delay-robustness. Indeed, for such systems, using a backstepping-controller, the corresponding target system should preserve a small amount of this reflection to ensure robustness to a small delay in the loop. This…
We consider a discrete time stochastic Markovian control problem under model uncertainty. Such uncertainty not only comes from the fact that the true probability law of the underlying stochastic process is unknown, but the parametric family of probability distributions which the true law belongs to is also unknown. We propose a nonparametric adaptive robust control methodology to deal with such problem. Our approach hinges on the following building concepts: first, using the adaptive robust paradigm to incorporate online learning and uncertainty reduction into the robust control problem; secon…
Princeton University（普林斯顿大学）；Google AI Princeton（谷歌人工智能普林斯顿分部）；Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院）
We study online control of an unknown nonlinear dynamical system that is approximated by a time-invariant linear system with model misspecification. Our study focuses on robustness, a measure of how much deviation from the assumed linear approximation can be tolerated by a controller while maintaining finite $\ell_2$-gain. A basic methodology to analyze robustness is via the small gain theorem. However, as an implication of recent lower bounds on adaptive control, this method can only yield robustness that is exponentially small in the dimension of the system and its parametric uncertainty. Th…
The University of Texas at Dallas（德克萨斯大学达拉斯分校）；The Australian National University（澳大利亚国立大学）
We propose a robust data-driven output feedback control algorithm that explicitly incorporates inherent finite-sample model estimate uncertainties into the control design. The algorithm has three components: (1) a subspace identification nominal model estimator; (2) a bootstrap resampling method that quantifies non-asymptotic variance of the nominal model estimate; and (3) a non-conventional robust control design method comprising a coupled optimal dynamic output feedback filter and controller with multiplicative noise. A key advantage of the proposed approach is that the system identification…
University of Pennsylvania（宾夕法尼亚大学）；Google Brain Robotics（谷歌大脑机器人部门）
The need for robust control laws is especially important in safety-critical applications. We propose robust hybrid control barrier functions as a means to synthesize control laws that ensure robust safety. Based on this notion, we formulate an optimization problem for learning robust hybrid control barrier functions from data. We identify sufficient conditions on the data such that feasibility of the optimization problem ensures correctness of the learned robust hybrid control barrier functions. Our techniques allow us to safely expand the region of attraction of a compass gait walker that is …
A robust Learning Model Predictive Controller (LMPC) for uncertain systems performing iterative tasks is presented. At each iteration of the control task the closed-loop state, input and cost are stored and used in the controller design. This paper first illustrates how to construct robust invariant sets and safe control policies exploiting historical data. Then, we propose an iterative LMPC design procedure, where data generated by a robust controller at iteration $j$ are used to design a robust LMPC at the next $j+1$ iteration. We show that this procedure allows us to iteratively enlarge the…
This paper studies control synthesis for a general class of nonlinear, control-affine dynamical systems under additive disturbances and state-estimation errors. We enforce forward invariance of static and dynamic safe sets and convergence to a given goal set within a user-defined time in the presence of input constraints. We use robust variants of control barrier functions (CBF) and fixed-time control Lyapunov functions (FxT-CLF) to incorporate a class of additive disturbances in the system dynamics, and state-estimation errors. To solve the underlying constrained control problem, we formulate…
Stabilizing control synthesis is one of the central subjects in control theory and engineering, and it always has to deal with unavoidable uncertainties in practice. In this study, we propose an adaptive parameter tuning algorithm for robust stabilizing quantum feedback control of $N$-level quantum angular momentum systems with a robust stabilizing controller proposed by [Liang, Amini, and Mason, SIAM J. Control Optim., 59 (2021), pp. 669-692]. The proposed method ensures local convergence to the target state. Besides, numerical experiments indicate its global convergence if the learning param…
Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院）；Uppsala University（乌普萨拉大学）
Recent work by Mania et al. has proved that certainty equivalent control achieves nearly optimal regret for linear systems with quadratic costs. However, when parameter uncertainty is large, certainty equivalence cannot be relied upon to stabilize the true, unknown system. In this paper, we present a dual control strategy that attempts to combine the performance of certainty equivalence, with the practical utility of robustness. The formulation preserves structure in the representation of parametric uncertainty, which allows the controller to target reduction of uncertainty in the parameters t…
Robust control is a core approach for controlling systems with performance guarantees that are robust to modeling error, and is widely used in real-world systems. However, current robust control approaches can only handle small system uncertainty, and thus require significant effort in system identification prior to controller design. We present an online approach that robustly controls a nonlinear system under large model uncertainty. Our approach is based on decomposing the problem into two sub-problems, "robust control design" (which assumes small model uncertainty) and "chasing consistent …
This paper presents new results that allow one to address the discrete-time general nonlinear robust control problem. The uncertain system is described by a general nonlinear function set characterized by the nominal model and the corresponding modeling error bound. Traditional synthesis methods design parameters of a structured robust controller. The key aim of this paper is to find an unstructured robust controller set in the state-control space, which enlarges the estimate of the closed-loop robust domain of attraction (RDOA). Based on the interval analysis arithmetic, a numerical method to…
This paper studies the design of controllers that guarantee stability and safety of nonlinear control affine systems with parametric uncertainty in both the drift and control vector fields. To this end, we introduce novel classes of robust control barrier functions (RCBF) and robust control Lyapunov functions (RCLF) that facilitate the synthesis of safety-critical controllers in the presence of parametric uncertainty using quadratic programming. Since the initial bounds on the system uncertainty may be highly conservative, we present a data-driven approach to reducing such bounds using input-o…
