In this paper we show how nonlinear internal models can be effectively used in the design of output regulators for nonlinear systems. This result provides a significant enhancement of the non-equilibrium theory for output regulation, which we have presented in the recent paper entitled "Limit Sets, Zero Dynamics, and Internal Models in the Problem of Nonlinear Output Regulation".
The internal model principle is a fundamental result stating a necessary and sufficient condition for a stabilizing controller to be robustly regulating. Its classical formulation is given in terms of coprime factorizations and the largest invariant factor of the signal generator which sets unnecessary restrictions for the theory and its applicability. In this article, the internal model principle is formulated using a general factorization approach and the generators of the fractional ideals generated by the elements of the signal generator. The proposed results are related to the classical o…
In this paper, we study the cooperative robust output regulation problem for linear uncertain multi-agent systems with both communication delay and input delay by the distributed internal model approach. The problem includes the leader-following consensus problem of linear multi-agent systems with time-delay as a special case. We first generalize the internal model design method to systems with both communication delay and input delay. Then, under a set of standard assumptions, we have obtained the solution of the problem via both the state feedback control and the output feedback control. In …
In this paper, we study the cooperative robust output regulation problem for discrete-time linear multi-agent systems with both communication and input delays by distributed internal model approach. We first introduce the distributed internal model for discrete-time multi-agent systems with both communication and input delays. Then, we define so-called auxiliary system and auxiliary augmented system. Finally, we solve our problem by showing, under some standard assumptions, that if a distributed state feedback control or a distributed output feedback control solves the robust output regulation…
This paper is concerned with the cooperative output regulation problem for a network of agents with different dynamics described by parabolic PDEs subject to spatially- and time-varying parameters. Firstly, a networked controller is designed achieving output synchronization for identical finite-dimensional reference models, which deliver the state of the global reference model required for the synchronization to the parabolic agents. The latter can be subject to local disturbances acting in-domain, on all boundaries and on the anti-collocated output to be controlled. The cooperative output reg…
We introduce general results on well-posedness and output regulation of regular linear systems with nonautonomous controllers. We present a generalization of the internal model principle for time-dependent controllers with asymptotically converging parameters. This general result is utilised in controller design for output tracking and disturbance rejection of harmonic signals with unknown frequencies. Our controller can be flexibly combined with different frequency estimation methods. The results are illustrated in rejection of unknown harmonic disturbances for a one-dimensional boundary cont…
This document contains the mathematical introduction to RORPack - a Python software library for robust output tracking and disturbance rejection for linear PDE systems. The RORPack library is open-source and freely available at https://github.com/lassipau/rorpack/ The package contains functionality for automated construction of robust internal model based controllers, simulation of the controlled systems, visualisation of the results, as well as a collection of example cases on robust output regulation of controlled heat and wave equations.
The cooperative output regulation problem of linear multi-agent systems was formulated and studied by the distributed observer approach in [20, 21]. Since then, several variants and extensions have been proposed, and the technique of the distributed observer has also been applied to such problems as formation, rendezvous, flocking, etc. In this chapter, we will first present a more general formulation of the cooperative output regulation problem for linear multi-agent systems that includes some existing versions of the cooperative output regulation problem as special cases. Then, we will descr…
In this paper, we study the event-triggered global robust practical output regulation problem for a class of nonlinear systems in output feedback form with any relative degree. Our approach consists of the following three steps. First, we design an internal model and an observer to form the so-called extended augmented system. Second, we convert the original problem into the event-triggered global robust practical stabilization problem of the extended augmented system. Third, we design an output-based event-triggered control law and a Zeno-free output-based event-triggered mechanism to solve t…
In this paper, we consider the event-triggered cooperative robust practical output regulation problem for a class of linear minimum-phase multi-agent systems. We first convert our problem into the cooperative robust practical stabilization problem of a well defined augmented system Based on the distributed internal model approach. Then, we design a distributed event-triggered output feedback control law together with a distributed output-based event-triggered mechanism to stabilize the augmented system, which leads to the solvability of the cooperative robust practical output regulation proble…
This paper considers the robust cooperative output regulation for a network of parabolic PDE systems. The solution of this problem is obtained by extending the cooperative internal model principle from finite to infinite dimensions. For a time-invariant digraph describing the communication topology, a two-step backstepping approach is presented to systematically design cooperative state feedback regulators. They allow to solve both the leader-follower and the leaderless output synchronization problem in the presence of disturbances and model uncertainty for a finite-dimensional leader. Solvabi…
We present three dynamic error feedback controllers for robust output regulation of regular linear systems. These controllers are (i) a minimal order robust controller for exponentially stable systems (ii) an observer-based robust controller and (iii) a new internal model based robust controller structure. In addition, we present two controllers that are by construction robust with respect to predefined classes of perturbations. The results are illustrated with an example where we study robust output tracking of a sinusoidal reference signal for a two-dimensional heat equation with boundary co…
In this paper, we first present an adaptive distributed observer for a discrete-time leader system. This adaptive distributed observer will provide, to each follower, not only the estimation of the leader's signal, but also the estimation of the leader's system matrix. Then, based on the estimation of the matrix S, we devise a discrete adaptive algorithm to calculate the solution to the regulator equations associated with each follower, and obtain an estimated feedforward control gain. Finally, we solve the cooperative output regulation problem for discrete-time linear multi-agent systems by b…
This paper considers the cooperative output regulation problem for linear multi-agent systems with a directed communication graph, heterogeneous linear subsystems, and an exosystem whose output is available to only a subset of subsystems. Both the cases with nominal and uncertain linear subsystems are studied. For the case with nominal linear subsystems, a distributed adaptive observer-based controller is designed, where the distributed adaptive observer is implemented for the subsystems to estimate the exogenous signal. For the case with uncertain linear subsystems, the proposed distributed o…
This paper shows how the theory of adaptive observers can be effectively used in the design internal models for nonlinear output regulation. The main result obtained in this way is a new method for the synthesis of adaptive internal models which substantially enhances the existing theory of adaptive output regulation, by allowing nonlinear internal models and more general classes of controlled plants.
In this paper, we consider the output synchronization problem for a network of heterogeneous diffusively-coupled nonlinear agents. Specifically, we show how the (non-identical) agents can be controlled in such a way that their outputs asymptotically track the output of a prescribed nonlinear exosystem. The problem is solved in two steps. In the first step, the problem of achieving consensus among (identical) nonlinear reference generators is addressed. In this respect, it is shown how the techniques recently developed to solve the consensus problem among linear agents can be extended to agents…
We study temperature and velocity output tracking problem for a two-dimensional room model with the fluid dynamics governed by the linearized translated Boussinesq equations. Additionally, the room model includes finite-dimensional models for actuation and sensing dynamics, thus the complete model dynamics are governed by an ODE-PDE-ODE system. As the main result, we design a low-dimensional internal model based controller for robust output racking of the room model. Efficiency of the controller is demonstrated through a numerical example of velocity and temperature tracking.
In this paper, we study the cooperative output regulation problem for the discrete linear time-delay multi-agent systems by distributed observer approach. In contrast with the same problem for continuous-time linear time-delay multi-agent systems, the problem has two new features. First, in the presence of time-delay, the regulator equations for discrete-time linear systems are different from those for continuous-time linear systems. Second, under the standard assumption on the connectivity of the communication graph, a distributed observer for any continuous-time linear leader system always e…
This paper studies the event-triggered cooperative global robust output regulation problem for a class of nonlinear multi-agent systems via a distributed internal model design. We show that our problem can be solved practically in the sense that the ultimate bound of the tracking error can be made arbitrarily small by adjusting a design parameter in the proposed event-triggered mechanism. Our result offers a few new features. First, our control law is robust against both external disturbances and parameter uncertainties, which are allowed to belong to some arbitrarily large prescribed compact …
The paper deals with the problem of output regulation in a "non-equilibrium" context for a special class of multivariable nonlinear systems stabilizable by high-gain feedback. A post-processing internal model design suitable for the multivariable nature of the system, which might have more inputs than regulation errors, is proposed. Uncertainties in the system and exosystem are dealt with by assuming that the ideal steady state input belongs to a certain "class of signals" by which an appropriate model set for the internal model can be derived. The adaptation mechanism for the internal model i…
This paper considers the synchronized output regulation (SOR) problem of nonlinear multi-agent systems with switching graph. The SOR means that all agents regulate their outputs to synchronize on the output of a predefined common exosystem. Each agent constructs its local exosystem with the same dynamics as that of the common exosystem and exchanges the state information of the local exosystem. It is shown that the SOR is solvable under the assumptions same as that for nonlinear output regulation of a single agent, if the switching graph satisfies the bounded interconnectivity times condition.…
We consider the problem of designing a state feedback control law to achieve nonovershooting tracking for feedback linearisable multiple-input multiple-output nonlinear systems. The reference signal is assumed to be obtained from a linear exosystem. The design method adopts known methods for the nonovershooting tracking of linear systems and extends them to the output regulation of feedback linearisable nonlinear systems. The method accommodates arbitrary initial conditions and offers design choice of the tracking convergence speed.
We investigate the problem of practical output regulation, i.e., to design a controller that brings the system output in the vicinity of a desired target value while keeping the other variables bounded. We consider uncertain systems that are possibly nonlinear and the uncertainty of their linear parts is modeled element-wise through a parametric family of matrix boxes. An optimization-based design procedure is proposed that delivers a continuous-time control and estimates the maximal regulation error. We also analyze an event-triggered emulation of this controller, which can be implemented on …
This paper shows how the theory of nonlinear adaptive observers can be effectively used in the design of internal models for nonlinear output regulation. The theory substantially enhances the existing results in the context of {\em adaptive} output regulation, by allowing for not necessarily stable zero dynamics of the controlled plant and by weakening the standard assumption of having the steady state control input generated by a linear system.
We address the output regulation problem for a general class of linear stochastic systems. Specifically, we formulate and solve the ideal full-information and output-feedback problems, obtaining perfect, but non-causal, asymptotic regulation. A characterisation of the problem solvability is deduced. We point out that the ideal problems cannot be solved in practice because they unrealistically require that the Brownian motion affecting the system is available for feedback. Drawing from the ideal solution, we formulate and solve approximate versions of the full-information and output-feedback pr…
We consider controller design for robust output tracking and disturbance rejection for continuous-time periodic linear systems with periodic reference and disturbance signals. As our main results we present four different controllers: A feedforward control law and a discrete-time dynamic error feedback controller for output tracking and disturbance rejection, a robust discrete-time feedback controller, and finally a discrete-time feedback controller that achieves approximate robust output tracking and disturbance rejection. The presented constructions are also new for time-invariant finite and…
This paper investigates the output feedback setpoint regulation control of a reaction-diffusion equation by means of boundary control. The considered reaction-diffusion plant may be open-loop unstable. The proposed control strategy consists of the coupling of a finite-dimensional observer and a PI controller in order to achieve the boundary setpoint regulation control of various system outputs such as the Dirichlet and Neumann traces. In this context, it is shown that the order of the finite-dimensional observer can always be selected large enough, with explicit criterion, to achieve both the …
This paper is about the nonlinear local error feedback regulator problem. The plant is a nonlinear finite-dimensional system with a single control input and a single output and it is locally exponentially stable around the origin. The plant is driven, via a separate disturbance input, by a Lyapunov stable exosystem whose states are nonwandering. The reference signal that the plant output must track is a nonlinear function of the exosystem state. The local error feedback regulator problem is to design a dynamic feedback controller, with the tracking error as its input, such that (i) the closed-…
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.
An adaptive funnel control method is considered for the regulation of the output for a class of nonlinear infinite-dimensional systems on real Hilbert spaces. After a decomposition of the state space and some change of variables related to the Byrnes-Isidori form, it is shown that the funnel controller presented in (Berger et al., 2020) achieves the control objective under some assumptions on the nonlinear system dynamics, like well-posedness and Bounded-Input-State Bounded-Output (BISBO) stability. The theory is applied to the regulation of the temperature in a chemical plug-flow tubular reac…
We study robust output regulation for parabolic partial differential equations and other infinite-dimensional linear systems with analytic semigroups. As our main results we show that robust output tracking and disturbance rejection for our class of systems can be achieved using a finite-dimensional controller and present algorithms for construction of two different internal model based robust controllers. The controller parameters are chosen based on a Galerkin approximation of the original PDE system and employ balanced truncation to reduce the orders of the controllers. In the second part o…
We present a model predictive control (MPC) framework to solve the constrained nonlinear output regulation problem. The main feature of the proposed framework is that the application does not require the solution to classical regulator (Francis-Byrnes-Isidori) equations or any other offline design procedure. In particular, the proposed formulation simply minimizes the predicted output error, possibly with some input regularization. Instead of using terminal cost/sets or a positive definite stage cost as is standard in MPC theory, we build on the theoretical results by Grimm et al. 2005 using a…
Nonadaptive Output Regulation of Second-Order Nonlinear Uncertain Systems
School of Automation, Beijing Institute of Technology(自动化学院,北京理工大学);Beijing Institute of Technology Chongqing Innovation Center(北京理工大学重庆创新中心);Department of Chemical Engineering, Queen’s University(化学工程系,皇后大学);Massachusetts Institute of Technology(麻省理工学院)