Jin Heon Seo

Brief paper: Consensus of high-order linear systems using dynamic output feedback compensator: Low gain approach

In this paper, we study the consensus (and synchronization) problem for multi-agent linear dynamic systems. All the agents have identical MIMO linear dynamics which can be of any order, and only the output information of each agents is delivered throughout the communication network. It is shown that consensus is reached if there exists a stable compensator which simultaneously stabilizes N-1 systems in a special form, where N is the number of agents. We show that there exists such a compensator under a very general condition. Finally, the consensus value is characterized as a function of initial conditions with stable compensators in place.

Output Consensus of Heterogeneous Uncertain Linear Multi-Agent Systems

This technical note studies the output consensus problem for a class of heterogeneous uncertain linear multi-agent systems. All the agents can be of any order (which might widely differ among the agents) and possess parametric uncertainties that range over an arbitrarily large compact set. The controller uses only the output information of the plant; moreover, the delivered information throughout the communication network is also restricted to the output of each agent. Based on the output regulation theory, it is shown that the output consensus is reached if the (state) consensus is achieved within the internal models among the agents controllers (even though the plants outputs, rather than the internal models outputs, are communicated). The internal models can be designed and embedded into the controller, which provides considerable flexibility to designers in terms of the type of signals that are agreed on among the agents.

Robust Tracking and Vibration Suppression for a Two-Inertia System by Combining Backstepping Approach With Disturbance Observer

In this paper, we consider the problem of designing a robust controller for a two-inertia system which contains arbitrarily large (but bounded) model uncertainties and disturbances. The research is motivated by the fact that a two-inertia system represents most of an industrial robot arm system that has a flexible joint, for which vibration suppression and robust control against model uncertainties and external disturbances are very important. The proposed controller consists of two parts: the outer-loop controller designed by the backstepping approach and the inner-loop controller by the new partial disturbance observer (DOB). The DOB is responsible for compensating the input-matched uncertainties and disturbances, while the backstepping controller is designed for dealing with the rest. The proposed controller makes tracking error and vibration of the system suppressed within an arbitrarily small bound during operation time when full states are measured. The results are verified by simulations and experiments with a Luenberger observer.

Input output linearization approach to state observer design for nonlinear system

Presents a state observer for a class of nonlinear systems based on the input output linearization. While the previous result presented state observers for nonlinear systems of full relative degree, we proposed a procedure fur the design of nonlinear state observers which do not require the hypothesis of full relative degree. Assuming that there exists a global state observer for internal dynamics and that some functions are globally Lipschitz, we can design a globally convergent state observer. It is also shown that if the zero dynamics are locally exponentially stable, then there exists a local state observer. An example is given to illustrate the proposed design of nonlinear state observers.

Consensus of output-coupled linear multi-agent systems under fast switching network: Averaging approach

This study addresses the problem of consensus of multi-agent systems, consisting of a set of identical MIMO LTI systems, under a time-varying network that has a well-defined average (with uniform convergence to the average). The information delivered through the communication network is the output of each system. First, it is shown that consensus is reached asymptotically by using a group of compensators if the network switches sufficiently fast and the compensators are designed such that the multi-agent system asymptotically achieves consensus for the average of the network. Further, we find a relation between the two agreements, one obtained from considering the switching network and the other obtained from replacing the network with its average. Then, for a class of minimum phase systems, we remove the fast switching condition by redesigning the compensators. Finally, the formation stabilization of unicycle-type mobile robots is dealt with as an application of the problem, and it is demonstrated via a computer simulation.

Sliding mode controller for torque and pitch control of wind power system based on PMSG

Recently, the size of wind turbines is increased. As a result, the permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) plays an important role because of its simple structure and high efficiency. This paper proposes a torque and pitch control scheme for variable speed wind turbines. A torque controller is designed to maximize the output power below the rated wind speed and a pitch controller is designed to regulate above the rated wind speed. The controllers exploit sliding mode control scheme considering the rapid variation of wind speed. Since the aerodynamic torque and rotor acceleration are difficult to measure in practice, an observer is designed which estimate them. In order to verify the proposed control strategy, we provide stability analysis and present simulation results.

Recursive nonlinear observer design: beyond the uniform observability

We propose a recursive design scheme of a state observer for multiple-input-multiple-output, partly lower triangular nonlinear systems. The design begins from the subdynamics far from the output and propagates to the subdynamics close to the output, recalling the backstepping scheme for nonlinear control. The proposed class of systems is fairly general since it includes nonuniformly observable and/or detectable multioutput systems. Error convergence to zero is proved assuming boundedness of inputs a posteriori (i.e., after the design), which is preferable whereas most results in the literature assume the boundedness; a priori (i.e., before the design). A global observer is proposed with the global Lipschitz condition of the system, but without any restriction on the size of Lipschitz coefficient. The Lipschitz condition can be removed when a semiglobal observer is of interest.

Non-linear output feedback stabilization on a bounded region of attraction

In this paper it is shown that, for multi-input single-output non-affine non-linear systems, when a state feedback control stabilizes an equilibrium point of a plant with a certain bounded region of attraction, it is also stabilized by an output feedback controller with arbitrarily small loss of the region. Moreover, the proposed output feedback controller has the dynamic order n which is the same as the order of the plant. From any given state feedback, an explicit form of the overall controller is provided. A sufficient condition presented for the result is shown to be necessary and sufficient for regional uniform observability when the system is input affine. Thus, the result can be regarded as a regional separation principle for affine non-linear systems.

A system theoretic study on a treatment of AIDS patient by achieving long-term non-progressor

There has been much recent interest in the long-term non-progressor (LTNP), who has been infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) but does not proceed to AIDS. Under the assumption that a mathematical model describing the HIV infection and drug effects is true for real systems, we claim that it is possible to steer the state of any patients to that of LTNP if the model parameters belong to the proposed parameter intervals. Once the state is transferred close to LTNP, CTL memory is established and the viral load remains very low level even after the medication is stopped. In order to justify the claim, we first analyze the stability and the bifurcation of the model and show that there exists an equilibria curve towards LTNP, which is stable for all fixed constant inputs except some singular points. Then, we propose a new treatment strategy based on a useful property of Non-vanishing Basin of Attraction (NvBA)-stability. An extensive simulation study is also included to validate the proposed treatment for various initial conditions and to show the robustness against the parameter uncertainty. From a practical perspective, it deserves further investigation whether the proposed treatment strategy could switch a patient into LTNP in the real world.

Consensus of output-coupled linear multi-agent systems under frequently connected network

This paper studies the problem of consensus for linear multi-agent systems under a frequently connected communication network. All the agents, which have identical MIMO linear dynamics, can be of any order and only the output information of each agent is delivered through the communication network. To tackle the problem we first present a necessary and sufficient condition for achieving the consensus under the fixed network topology. After that, a sufficient condition for the problem is provided under the circumstances of frequently connected network topology. The key idea is the average dwell-time and its use in stability theory.