New stochastic convergence theorems: Overcoming the limitations of LaSalle theorems

Abstract

LaSalle theorems, sometimes called as invariance-like theorems, have witnessed abundant applications as powerful tools of analysing system convergence. However, these theorems have twofold limitations: On the one hand, the uniformity of convergence with respect to initial state values cannot be offered, which indicates that the possibility of excessively slow convergence could not be ruled out for a given bounded set of initial state values. On the other hand, unbounded time-variations are not allowed in the systems, and meanwhile, the boundedness of all the states are required even if one merely concerns the convergence of partial states, precluding many scenarios with the unboundedness (e.g., induced by stochastic noise) for some states defined on the whole time horizon. Towards the limitations of LaSalle theorems, this paper seeks to further develop convergence theorems in the stochastic framework. First, a Lyapunov-like function based theorem on the convergence owning the uniformity with respect to initial state values is presented for Itô-type stochastic systems, with the infinitesimal of Lyapunov-like functions exploited more delicately than those in stochastic LaSalle theorems. Based on this, a framework of adaptive stabilization with the uniformity of convergence is established for uncertain stochastic nonlinear systems. In particular, the performance specifications involved are impossible to achieve by applying LaSalle theorems as in the related results. Second, an enlarged convergence theorem is established with Lyapunov-like conditions moderately relaxed, which allows the unboundedness for partial states defined on the whole time horizon and has potential applications in the presence of unbounded time-variations. What is notable, the enlarged convergence theorem is nontrivial to verify, which compels us to propose an extended Barbălat lemma with the conventional requirement of uniform continuity relaxed in the stochastic framework.