Observer-based Control Scheme Research Articles

Nonlinear Disturbance Observer Based Adaptive Explicit Nonlinear Model Predictive Control Design for a Class of Nonlinear MIMO System

In this paper, a nonlinear disturbance observer-based adaptive explicit nonlinear model predictive control scheme is proposed to compensate for external disturbance and parametric uncertainty for a class of nonlinear multi-input-multi-output (MIMO) systems. Here, the analytical solution of the proposed adaptive control scheme is developed by approximating the tracking errors and control efforts with the Taylor series expansion method. In this approach, a nonlinear disturbance observer is used to observe the unknown external disturbance of the system. To restrict the parameters from leaving the compact parameter space, an adaptive parameter estimator using projection-based parameter adaptation laws is used. The performance of the designed control technique is enhanced by incorporating the estimated disturbance and estimated system parameters in the updating control law. Using an aerodynamic laboratory set-up known as the twin-rotor MIMO system (TRMS), the effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm has been verified. Simulation and real-time results show that the proposed control algorithm performs better than the existing control algorithm in the presence of unknown external disturbances and parameter uncertainties.

Adaptive Second-Order Sliding Mode Control for Grid-Connected NPC Converters With Enhanced Disturbance Rejection

In this article, a two-stage control scheme consisting of an adaptive-gain second-order sliding mode (SOSM) controller and a switched high-gain observer (HGO) is proposed for the three-level neutral-point-clamped (NPC) converter. The adaptive-gain SOSM control method is applied both in the voltage regulation loop and instantaneous power tracking loop, thus, the boundary of the disturbance derivative does not need to be known <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">a priori</i> . Compared with the fixed-gain SOSM, it provides a faster dynamic and a better steady-state response for the NPC converter. On the other hand, the conventional disturbance compensation observer used in the power system suffers from the adverse effects of measurement noise, which limits the performance of the observer. A switched HGO is combined with the adaptive-gain SOSM controller in the voltage regulation loop to address this issue. By using a switched observer gain, the switched HGO greatly diminishes the performance degradation induced by the inevitable measurement noise. Finally, several experiments between the representative extended state observer-based SOSM control scheme and the proposed control method are carried out for a comparison. The results demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Observer-Based Disturbance Accommodation Control Strategy for Useful Lifetime Control and Structural Load Mitigation of Wind Turbines

Wind turbines undergo degradation due to various factors which induce stress, thereby leading to fatigue damage to various wind turbine components. In addition, the current increase in demand for electrical power has led to the development of large wind turbines, which result in increased structural loads, therefore, increasing the possibility of early failure due to fatigue load. This paper proposes a proportional integral observer (PI-Observer) based disturbance accommodation controller (DAC) with individual pitch control (IPC) for load mitigation to reduce components’ damage and ensure the wind turbine is operational for the expected lifetime. The results indicate a reduction in blades’ bending moments with a standard deviation of 15.9%, which positively impacts several other wind turbine subsystems. Therefore, the lifetime control strategy demonstrates effective structural load mitigation without compromise on power generation, thus, achieving a nominal lifetime control to inhibit premature failure.

Fault Tolerant Control for Remotely Operated Vehicles with Thruster Faults using Nonlinear Disturbance Observers

In this paper, a disturbance observer based control strategy is developed to provide fault tolerance to thruster faults for a remotely operated vehicle. The scheme relies on the vehicle's position, orientation and velocity information only, without the need for additional measurements from the thrusters such as voltage, current, and rotation speed. Because the system is over-actuated, a bank of observers is designed for purposes of fault detection and isolation. A nonlinear disturbance observer is designed to restructure itself, according to the fault isolation outcome, to estimate the fault magnitude. The fault estimation is finally exploited by the control law using an active fault tolerant control strategy. The solution is designed for the cases where at most one faulty thruster is expected. The fault tolerant control strategy is tested in simulation, where a severe thruster fault is injected.

Adaptive Observer Based Fault Tolerant Control for Sensor and Actuator Faults in Wind Turbines.

The installed wind energy generation capacity has been increasing dramatically all over the world. However, most wind turbines are installed in hostile environments, where regular operation needs to be ensured by effective fault tolerant control methods. An adaptive observer-based fault tolerant control scheme is proposed in this article to address the sensor and actuator faults that usually occur on the core subsystems of wind turbines. The fast adaptive fault estimation (FAFE) algorithm is adopted in the adaptive observers to accurately and rapidly located the faults. Based on the states and faults estimated by the adaptive observers, the state feedback fault tolerant controllers are designed to stabilize the system and compensate for the faults. The gain matrices of the controllers are calculated by the pole placement method. Simulation results illustrate that the proposed fault tolerant control scheme with the FAFE algorithm stabilizes the faulty system effectively and performs better than the baseline on the benchmark model of wind turbines.

Cooperative tracking control of single-integrator multi-agent systems with multiple leaders

In this paper, the cooperative tracking control of single-integrator multi-agent systems is investigated. The networked agents are partitioned into two groups, leaders and followers. Only the former have access to the state of an autonomous exogenous system and their role is to inject the control inputs into the network such that the followers track the predefined setpoint trajectories. The followers are controlled through local interaction rules based on the relative measurements from their neighbors. A novel distributed observer-based control strategy that solves the tracking control problem is proposed. Simple rules are provided for determining the controller and observer parameters which guarantee that the closed-loop system poles lie in the specified region. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is verified through numerical examples.

Perturbation Observer Based Fractional-Order Control for SMES Systems Based on Jellyfish Search Algorithm

The electric energy storage system (EESS) is considered as an efficient and promising tool to alleviate the power imbalance of grid-connected microgrid with distributed generation (DG). This work develops a perturbation observer-based fractional-order control (POFOC) strategy for superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) system. Initially, a high-gain state and perturbation observer (HGSPO) is designed for reliable estimation of the combined impact of the nonlinearities, parameter uncertainties, unmodeled dynamics, and external disturbances of SMES. Then the storage function of an SMES system is designed, which takes favorable terms into serious consideration to sufficiently utilize the physical properties of the SMES system. Moreover, a fractional-order control framework is applied for complete compensation for the estimated perturbation and adopted as the attached input to boost its dynamical responses. Furthermore, a newly proposed jellyfish search algorithm (JSA) is utilized to realize optimization and tuning of control gains of the developed strategy, upon which high-quality global optimum can be obtained to ensure prominent controlling performance. Case studies, e.g., active power and reactive power supply and system restoration capability under power grid fault effectively validate the effectiveness and reliability of the POFOC strategy compared with traditional PID control and interconnection and damping assignment passivity-based controller (IDA-PBC). In particular, the overshoot of PID is 115.264% of the rated value, while POFOC has no overshoot.

Disturbance observer-based control schemes for quadrotors – a tutorial

This paper presents a short tutorial introduction to disturbance observer-based control approaches for the quadrotors. With this tutorial, researchers, engineers and students would be able to implement disturbance observer-based model-in-loop simulations and experiments more easily to design robust autopilot system for the quadrotors. To achieve this, first of all, the modeling and controlling of a quadrotor are explained and all linear disturbance observer-based control approaches in the literature are adapted in its overall nonlinear architecture. Disturbance observer-based control design steps are given in detail by design challenges. To show their disturbance rejection capabilities and practical applicability, two flight simulation scenarios are carried out. For all simulation cases, we only take into account the external disturbances in rotational motions. While we give the attitude trajectory commands to quadrotor attitude control architecture in the first scenario, we issue both way-point and trajectory commands to an outer loop controlling the translational motions in the second one. Presented disturbance observer-based control approaches have successfully completed the given reference commands in the presence of the external disturbances even under the measurement noise. Moreover, simulation experiments have shown that UDEBC approach transmits the external disturbance and measurement noise effects to the actuators directly. As a result, for UDEBC approach, it should be kept in mind that flight accidents may occur due to excessive ESC heating. Baseline attitude controller without disturbance observer-based control approach have failed to follow the given reference commands. The simulation studies have also proved the practical applicability of these methods, which are successful even under measurement noise.

Observer-Based Proportional-Type Controller for Two-Wheeled Mobile Robots via Simple Coordinate Transformation Technique

This article briefs on an advanced observer-based proportional-type control scheme that stabilizes the attitude and regulates the position of two-wheeled mobile balancing robots. The robot parameter and load uncertainties are under consideration. There are three main differences from previous results: (a) the development of coordinate transformation for securing the applicability of the proposed nonlinear controller design technique, (b) the pole-zero cancellation parameter-independent observers for estimating the wheel and yaw angular velocities, and (c) the guarantees of performance recovery and offset-free properties through the replacement of integrators via observer-based disturbance observers. The practical merits of the closed-loop analysis are confirmed by performing experiments with a LEGO Mindstorms EV3 operated by MATLAB/Simulink.

A Robust Observer-Based Control Strategy for n-DOF Uncertain Robot Manipulators with Fixed-Time Stability.

In this paper, a robust observer-based control strategy for n-DOF uncertain robot manipulators with fixed-time stability was developed. The novel fixed-time nonsingular sliding mode surface enables control errors to converge to the equilibrium point quickly within fixed time without singularity. The development of the novel fixed-time disturbance observer based on a uniform robust exact differentiator also allows uncertain terms and exterior disturbances to be proactively addressed. The designed observer can accurately approximate uncertain terms within a fixed time and contribute to significant chattering reduction in the traditional sliding mode control. A robust observer-based control strategy was formulated, according to a combination of the fixed-time nonsingular terminal sliding mode control method and the designed observer, to yield global fixed time stability for n-DOF uncertain robot manipulators. The proposed controller proved definitively that it was able to obtain global stabilization in fixed time. The approximation capability of the proposed observer, the convergence of the proposed sliding surface, and the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy in fixed time were fully confirmed by simulation performance on an industrial robot manipulator.

Power Quality Improvement through a UPQC and a Resonant Observer-Based MIMO Control Strategy

Performance degradation is, in general, regarded as a power quality problem. One solution to recover grid performance is through the application of a unified power quality conditioner (UPQC). Although these devices are multi-input/multi-output (MIMO) systems, the most common control strategies consist of two decoupled controllers, which neglect the coupling effects and add uncertainty to the system. For this reason, this paper proposes a multivariable resonant observer-based control strategy of a UPQC system. This method includes all significant coupling effects between this system and the grid. This strategy results in a stability-based compensator, which differs from recently proposed strategies that are based on signal calculation and cannot assure closed-loop stability. In addition, this paper introduces a simplified controller tuning strategy based on optimal conventional methods without losing closed-loop performance. It implies that the controller can be easily tuned, despite the complexity of the MIMO dynamic model. The UPQC with the resonant observer is verified on an experimental setup for a single-phase system, obtaining three relevant results for power quality improvement: (1) harmonics compensation tested with a total harmonic distortion limit of 5%; (2) sags and swells mitigation; and (3) power factor correction, achieving a unitary value on the grid side.

Adaptive Memory Event-Triggered Observer-Based Control for Nonlinear Multi-Agent Systems Under DoS Attacks

This paper investigates the event-triggered security consensus problem for nonlinear multi-agent systems (MASs) under denial-of-service (DoS) attacks over an undirected graph. A novel adaptive memory observer-based anti-disturbance control scheme is presented to improve the observer accuracy by adding a buffer for the system output measurements. Meanwhile, this control scheme can also provide more reasonable control signals when DoS attacks occur. To save network resources, an adaptive memory event-triggered mechanism (AMETM) is also proposed and Zeno behavior is excluded. It is worth mentioning that the AMETM's updates do not require global information. Then, the observer and controller gains are obtained by using the linear matrix inequality (LMI) technique. Finally, simulation examples show the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.

Fixed-Time Observer Based Safety Control for a Quadrotor UAV

This article presents a fixed-time observer-based safety control strategy for quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) against multiple actuator faults and unknown disturbances. The fixed-time sliding mode observer is designed to estimate the state residual and the unknown actuator fault. Unlike most of the existing safety control strategies, the estimation time of the fault parameters is independent of initial condition, which can be strictly ensured within a fixed upper bound. Besides, the transient estimation error is regarded as a disturbance. In this article, a retrofit control mechanism with integration of the fixed-time estimator and an integral sliding mode controller is devised against multiple actuator faults and disturbances. Finally, both simulation and experimental tests demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed UAV safety control.

Intelligent Observer-Based Controller Design for Nonlinear Type-1 Diabetes Model via Adaptive Neural Network Method

Diabetes is an increasing health problem all around the world, particularly Type 1 diabetes (T1D), people with T1D require precise glycemic control, due to a shortage of insulin production. This paper introduces a new adaptive neural observer-based controller for a class of nonlinear T1D systems. A solution is proposed to guarantees practical tracking of a desired glucose concentration by a new adaptive neural observer-based control strategy. One of the intelligence procedures is the network under online learning that the mentioned controller is learned by a back-propagation algorithm. This network is a significant class of feed-forward artificial neural networks that maps a set of inputs into a set of proper outputs. Guarantee stability of observer and controller by Lyapunov direct and training online are the merit of the method. Also, despite the presence of internal and external uncertainties, the multilayer perceptron neural observer-based controller is robust. The performance of the proposed method is hopeful based on the results.

Sliding mode observer-based adaptive control of uncertain singular systems with unknown time-varying delay and nonlinear input

A novel adaptive sliding mode observer-based control strategy is put forward for a type of uncertain singular systems subject to unknown state delay, input nonlinearity and uncertain perturbation in this article. Firstly, the unmeasured state is reconstructed by a particular observer without any inputs, from which a novel linear switching surface is provided. Subsequently, performance analysis of the resultant system on the switching surface is ensured under a new admissibility criterion. An associated adaptive control signal is synthesized to ensure that the established switching surface can be attained in finite moment. Finally, three numerical simulations are conducted to confirm the validity and superiority of the specified method.

High-gain observer-based nonlinear control scheme for biomechanical sit to stand movement in the presence of sensory feedback delays.

Sit-to-stand movement (STS) is a mundane activity, controlled by the central-nervous-system (CNS) via a complex neurophysiological mechanism that involves coordination of limbs for successful execution. Detailed analysis and accurate simulations of STS task have significant importance in clinical intervention, rehabilitation process, and better design for assistive devices. The CNS controls STS motion by taking inputs from proprioceptors. These input signals suffer delay in transmission to CNS making movement control and coordination more complex which may lead to larger body exertion or instability. This paper deals with the problem of STS movement execution in the presence of proprioceptive feedback delays in joint position and velocity. We present a high-gain observer (HGO) based feedback linearization control technique to mimic the CNS in controlling the STS transfer. The HGO estimates immeasurable delayed states to generate input signals for feedback. The feedback linearization output control law generates the passive torques at joints to execute the STS movement. The H2 dynamic controller calculates the optimal linear gains by using physiological variables. The whole scheme is simulated in MATLAB/Simulink. The simulations illustrate physiologically improved results. The ankle, knee, and hip joint position profiles show a high correlation of 0.91, 0.97, 0.80 with the experimentally generated reference profiles. The faster observer dynamics and global boundness of controller result in compensation of delays. The low error and high correlation of simulation results demonstrate (1) the reliability and effectiveness of the proposed scheme for customization of human models and (2) highlight the fact that for detailed analysis and accurate simulations of STS movement the modeling scheme must consider nonlinearities of the system.

Observer-based robust integral of the sign of the error control of class I of underactuated mechanical systems: Theory and real-time experiments

In this paper, the control problem of a class I of underactuated mechanical systems (UMSs) is addressed. The considered class includes nonlinear UMSs with two degrees of freedom and one control input. Firstly, we propose the design of a robust integral of the sign of the error (RISE) control law, adequate for this special class. Based on a change of coordinates, the dynamics is transformed into a strict-feedback (SF) form. A Lyapunov-based technique is then employed to prove the asymptotic stability of the resulting closed-loop system. Numerical simulation results show the robustness and performance of the original RISE toward parametric uncertainties and disturbance rejection. A comparative study with a conventional sliding mode control reveals a significant robustness improvement with the proposed original RISE controller. However, in real-time experiments, the amplification of the measurement noise is a major problem. It has an impact on the behaviour of the motor and reduces the performance of the system. To deal with this issue, we propose to estimate the velocity using the robust Levant differentiator instead of the numerical derivative. Real-time experiments were performed on the testbed of the inertia wheel inverted pendulum to demonstrate the relevance of the proposed observer-based RISE control scheme. The obtained real-time experimental results and the obtained evaluation indices show clearly a better performance of the proposed observer-based RISE approach compared to the sliding mode and the original RISE controllers.

A frequency domain comparison of disturbance observer based control schemes

In this article, an analysis and synthesis of widely used linear disturbance observer based robust control approaches are presented. The main objective of this article is to provide an exhaustive comparison of disturbance observer based robust control approaches and to handle the structural details of each approach for gaining insight about the complexity of each approach. Toward this goal, nine performances and robustness equations portraying useful insights for understanding and analyzing control systems are derived by examining their common and equivalent block diagrams. Four of them are selected as gang of four equations, namely complementary sensitivity function, sensitivity function, disturbance sensitivity function and noise sensitivity function. Robustness and disturbance rejection performance analysis of all linear disturbance observer based control schemes and classical feedback control scheme are done using gang of four equations. With these representations, two tables discussing all prime issues and facilitating the selection of the best approach are obtained. Our research stipulates critical facts and figures of each scheme by considering the derived gang of four equations, which can be used for choosing the most appropriate disturbance observer based control approach for a given robust control problem. It is concluded that the uncertainty disturbance estimator approach is superior when time delay type uncertainty is involved in the model. Unfolding this is critical as time delay is an inevitable fact in most industrial control systems. The findings also emphasize that time domain disturbance observer based control approach is proficient if there is no process time delay.

Fuzzy adaptive output-feedback tracking control for nonlinear strict-feedback systems in prescribed finite time

The current paper addresses the fuzzy adaptive tracking control via output feedback for single-input single-output (SISO) nonlinear systems in strict-feedback form. Under the situation of system states being unavailable, the system output is used to set up the state observer to estimate the real system states. Furthermore, the estimation states are employed to design controller. During the control design process, fuzzy logic systems (FLSs) are used to model the unknown nonlinearities. A novel observer-based finite-time tracking control scheme is proposed via fuzzy adaptive backstepping and barrier Lyapunov function approach. The suggested fuzzy adaptive output feedback controller can force the output tracking error to meet the pre-specified accuracy in a fixed time. Meanwhile, all the closed-loop variables are bounded. Compared to some existing finite-time output feedback control schemes, the developed control strategy guarantees that the settling time and the error accuracy are independent of the uncertainties and can be specified by the designer. At last, the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed control scheme are demonstrated by two simulation examples.

Spiking-free HGO-based DSC for flexible joint manipulator

The tracking control problem for Flexible Joint Manipulator Control System (FJMCS) with unmeasurable states is addressed in this paper. Firstly, a High-Gain Observer (HGO) is constructed to estimate the unmeasurable states and the uncertainties. Then, a Dynamic Surface Control (DSC) scheme is developed by using the estimation of HGO. The newly proposed controller has two advantages over the existing methods: (A) a novel Spike Suppression Function (SSF) is developed to avoid the estimation spike problem in the existing HGO-based controllers. (B) Unlike the existing observer-based partial feedback control scheme that can only estimate the unmeasurable states, the proposed HGO can estimate both the unmeasurable states and uncertainties. The closed-loop system stability is proved by the Lyapunov theory. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller.