A set-theoretic model reference adaptive control architecture for disturbance rejection and uncertainty suppression with strict performance guarantees

• Published in: International journal of control Vol. 91; no. 5; pp. 1195 - 1208
• Main Authors: Arabi, Ehsan, Gruenwald, Benjamin C., Yucelen, Tansel, Nguyen, Nhan T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Taylor & Francis 04-05-2018; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Adaptive algorithms; Architecture; Control algorithms; disturbance rejection; Dynamical systems; generalised restricted potential functions (generalised barrier Lyapunov functions); Model reference adaptive control; Rejection; Safety critical; set-theoretic adaptive control; strict performance guarantees; System dynamics; Uncertain dynamical systems; Uncertainty; uncertainty suppression
• ISSN: 0020-7179; 1366-5820
• DOI: 10.1080/00207179.2017.1312019

Research in adaptive control algorithms for safety-critical applications is primarily motivated by the fact that these algorithms have the capability to suppress the effects of adverse conditions resulting from exogenous disturbances, imperfect dynamical system modelling, degraded modes of operation, and changes in system dynamics. Although government and industry agree on the potential of these algorithms in providing safety and reducing vehicle development costs, a major issue is the inability to achieve a-priori, user-defined performance guarantees with adaptive control algorithms. In this paper, a new model reference adaptive control architecture for uncertain dynamical systems is presented to address disturbance rejection and uncertainty suppression. The proposed framework is predicated on a set-theoretic adaptive controller construction using generalised restricted potential functions.The key feature of this framework allows the system error bound between the state of an uncertain dynamical system and the state of a reference model, which captures a desired closed-loop system performance, to be less than a-priori, user-defined worst-case performance bound, and hence, it has the capability to enforce strict performance guarantees. Examples are provided to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed set-theoretic model reference adaptive control architecture.