Novel neural control for a class of uncertain pure-feedback systems

Adaptive neural identification and non-singular control of pure-feedback nonlinear systems

This paper proposes a new constructive identification and adaptive control method for nonlinear pure-feedback systems, which remedies the 'explosion of complexity' and potential control singularity encountered in the traditional adaptive backstepping controllers. First, to avoid using the backstepping recursive design, alternative state variables and the corresponding coordinate transformation are introduced to reformulate the pure-feedback system into an equivalent canonical model. Then, a high-order sliding mode (HOSM) observer is used to reconstruct the unknown states for this canonical model. To remedy the potential singularity in the control, the unknown system dynamics are lumped to derive an alternative identification structure and one-step control synthesis, where two radial basis function neural networks (RBFNN) are adopted to online estimate these lumped dynamics. In this framework, the online estimation of control gain is not in the denominator of controller, and thus the division by zero in the controllers is avoided. Finally, a new online learning algorithm is constructed to obtain the RBFNNs' weights, ensuring the convergence to the neighborhood of true values and allowing accurate identification of unknown dynamics. Theoretical analysis elaborates that the convergence of both the tracking error and the estimation error is obtained simultaneously. Simulations and practical experiments on a hydraulic servo test-rig verify the effectiveness and utility of the suggested methods.

Nonsingular Practical Fixed-Time Adaptive Output Feedback Control of MIMO Nonlinear Systems

This article studies the nonsingular fixed-time control problem of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) nonlinear systems with unmeasured states for the first time. A state observer is designed to solve the problem that system states cannot be measured. Due to the existence of the unknown system nonlinear dynamics, neural networks (NNs) are introduced to approximate them. Then, through the combination of adaptive backstepping recursive technology and adding power integration technology, a nonsingular fixed-time adaptive output feedback control algorithm is proposed, which introduces a filter to avoid the complicated derivation process of the virtual control function. According to the fixed-time Lyapunov stability theory, the practical fixed-time stability of the closed-loop system is proven, which means that all signals of the closed-loop system remain bounded in a fixed time under the proposed algorithm. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is verified by the numerical simulation and practical simulation.

Adaptive NN Tracking Control for Uncertain MIMO Nonlinear System With Time-Varying State Constraints and Disturbances

In this article, an adaptive neural network (NN) tracking control scheme is proposed for uncertain multi-input-multi-output (MIMO) nonlinear system in strict-feedback form subject to system uncertainties, time-varying state constraints, and bounded disturbances. The radial basis function NNs (RBFNNs) are adopted to approximate the system uncertainties. By constructing the intermediate variables, the external disturbances that cannot be directly measured are approximated by the disturbance observers. The time-varying barrier Lyapunov function (TVBLF) is constructed to guarantee the boundedness of the errors lie in the sets. To overcome the potential singularity problem that the denominator of the barrier function term approaches zero in controller design, the adaptive NN tracking control scheme with time-varying state constraints is proposed. Based on the TVBLF, the controller will be designed to guarantee tracking performance without violating the appropriate error constraints. The analysis of TVBLF shows that all closed-loop signals remain semiglobally uniformly ultimately bounded (SGUUB). The simulation results are performed to validate the validity of the proposed scheme.

Guaranteeing Global Stability for Neuro-Adaptive Control of Unknown Pure-Feedback Nonaffine Systems via Barrier Functions

Most existing approximation-based adaptive control (AAC) approaches for unknown pure-feedback nonaffine systems retain a dilemma that all closed-loop signals are semiglobally uniformly bounded (SGUB) rather than globally uniformly bounded (GUB). To achieve the GUB stability result, this article presents a neuro-adaptive backstepping control approach by blending the mean value theorem (MVT), the barrier Lyapunov functions (BLFs), and the technique of neural approximation. Specifically, we first resort the MVT to acquire the intermediate and actual control inputs from the nonaffine structures directly. Then, neural networks (NNs) are adopted to approximate the unknown nonlinear functions, in which the compact sets for maintaining the approximation capabilities of NNs are predetermined actively through the BLFs. It is shown that, with the developed neuro-adaptive control scheme, global stability of the resulting closed-loop system is ensured. Simulations are conducted to verify and clarify the developed approach.

Event-triggered adaptive optimal tracking control for nonlinear stochastic systems with dynamic state constraints

This paper investigates the issue of event-triggered adaptive optimal tracking control for uncertain nonlinear systems with stochastic disturbances and dynamic state constraints. To handle the dynamic state constraints, a novel unified tangent-type nonlinear mapping function is proposed. A neural networks (NNs)-based identifier is designed to cope with the stochastic disturbances. By utilizing adaptive dynamic programming (ADP) of identifier-actor-critic architecture and event triggering mechanism, the adaptive optimized event-triggered control (ETC) approach for the nonlinear stochastic system is first proposed. It is proven that the designed optimized ETC approach guarantees the robustness of the stochastic systems and the semi-globally uniformly ultimately bounded in the mean square of the NNs adaptive estimation error, and the Zeno behavior can be avoided. Simulations are offered to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed control approach.

Event-Triggered Adaptive Fuzzy Asymptotic Tracking Control of Nonlinear Pure-Feedback Systems With Prescribed Performance

This article considers the problem of fixed-time prescribed event-triggered adaptive asymptotic tracking control for nonlinear pure-feedback systems with uncertain disturbances. The fuzzy-logic system (FLS) is introduced to deal with the unknown nonlinear functions in the system. By constructing a new type of Lyapunov function, the restrictive requirement that the upper bounds of the partial derivative of the unknown system functions need to be known is relaxed during the controller design process. At the same time, by developing a novel fixed-time performance function (FPF), the fixed-time prescribed performance (FPP) can be achieved, that is, the tracking error can converge to the neighborhood of the origin in a fixed time and finally converges to zero asymptotically. In addition, the event-triggered strategy is developed to reduce the waste of communication resources. The proposed control law can ensure that all the signals of the system are bounded. Meanwhile, the Zeno behavior can be effectively avoided. Finally, an example is provided to prove the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.

Adaptive Neural-Network Control of MIMO Nonaffine Nonlinear Systems With Asymmetric Time-Varying State Constraints

In this paper, a novel robust adaptive barrier Lyapunov function (BLF)-based backstepping controller has been proposed for a class of interconnected, multi-input-multi-output (MIMO) unknown nonaffine nonlinear systems with asymmetric time-varying (ATV) state constraints. The design involves a neural-network-based online approximator to cope with uncertain dynamics of the system. To tune its weights, a novel adaptive law is proposed based on the Hadamard product. A theorem has also been proposed to have the bounds on virtual control signals beforehand. This theorem eliminates the need for tedious offline computation for the feasibility condition on the virtual controller in BLF-based controller design. To overcome the problem of unknown control gain in the nonaffine system, Nussbaum gain has been used during the design. A simulation study on the robot manipulator in task space has been performed to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology.

Sampled-Data State Estimation of Reaction Diffusion Genetic Regulatory Networks via Space-Dividing Approaches

A novel state estimator is designed for genetic regulatory networks with reaction-diffusion terms in this study. First, the diffusion space (where mRNA and protein exist) is divided into several parts and only a point, a line, or a plane, etc., is measured in every subspace to reduce the measurement cost effectively. Then, samplers and network-induced time delay are considered to meet the network transmission requirement. A new criterion to ensure that the estimation error converges to zero is established by using the Lyapunov functional combined with Wirtinger's inequality, reciprocally convex approach, and Halanay's inequality; furthermore, the estimator's parameters are derived by solving linear matrix inequalities. Finally, two simulation examples (including one-dimensional and two-dimensional spaces) are presented to demonstrate the developed scheme's applicability.

Event-triggered adaptive prescribed performance control of uncertain nonlinear systems with unknown control directions

The problem of event-triggered prescribed performance control for a class of uncertain nonlinear systems with unknown control directions and faults is investigated. Compared with the existing methods, a new set of error transformation functions is defined for the first time. Although no approximate structure is adopted, prescribed performance control (PPC) and event triggered control (ETC) are realized simultaneously for the nonlinear system considered in this paper for the first time. The proposed control scheme can guarantee that all closed-loop signals are bounded, and the tracking error, as well as all state errors, converges within the adjustable constraint functions. Finally, two simulation experiments verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

Adaptive Reinforcement Learning Neural Network Control for Uncertain Nonlinear System With Input Saturation

In this paper, an adaptive neural network (NN) control problem is investigated for discrete-time nonlinear systems with input saturation. Radial-basis-function (RBF) NNs, including critic NNs and action NNs, are employed to approximate the utility functions and system uncertainties, respectively. In the previous works, a gradient descent scheme is applied to update weight vectors, which may lead to local optimal problem. To circumvent this problem, a multigradient recursive (MGR) reinforcement learning scheme is proposed, which utilizes both the current gradient and the past gradients. As a consequence, the MGR scheme not only eliminates the local optimal problem but also guarantees faster convergence rate than the gradient descent scheme. Moreover, the constraint of actuator input saturation is considered. The closed-loop system stability is developed by using the Lyapunov stability theory, and it is proved that all the signals in the closed-loop system are semiglobal uniformly ultimately bounded (SGUUB). Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed approach is further validated via some simulation results.

Neural-Network-Based Adaptive Funnel Control for Servo Mechanisms With Unknown Dead-Zone

This paper proposes an adaptive funnel control (FC) scheme for servo mechanisms with an unknown dead-zone. To improve the transient and steady-state performance, a modified funnel variable, which relaxes the limitation of the original FC (e.g., systems with relative degree 1 or 2), is developed using the tracking error to replace the scaling factor. Then, by applying the error transformation method, the original error is transformed into a new error variable which is used in the controller design. By using an improved funnel function in a dynamic surface control procedure, an adaptive funnel controller is proposed to guarantee that the output error remains within a predefined funnel boundary. A novel command filter technique is introduced by using the Levant differentiator to eliminate the "explosion of complexity" problem in the conventional backstepping procedure. Neural networks are used to approximate the unknown dead-zone and unknown nonlinear functions. Comparative experiments on a turntable servo mechanism confirm the effectiveness of the devised control method.

Output-Feedback Adaptive Neural Controller for Uncertain Pure-Feedback Nonlinear Systems Using a High-Order Sliding Mode Observer

A novel adaptive neural output-feedback controller for SISO nonaffine pure-feedback nonlinear systems is proposed. The majority of the previously described adaptive neural controllers for pure-feedback nonlinear systems were based on the dynamic surface control (DSC) or backstepping schemes. This makes the control law as well as the stability analysis highly lengthy and complicated. Moreover, there has been very limited research till date on the output-feedback neural controller for this class of the systems. The proposed controller evades adopting adaptive backstepping or DSC scheme through reformulating the original system into the Brunovsky form, which considerably simplifies the control law. Combining a high-order sliding mode observer and single radial-basis function network with universal approximation property, it is shown that the controller guarantees closed-loop system stability in the Lyapunov sense.

Robust Gene Circuit Control Design for Time-Delayed Genetic Regulatory Networks Without SUM Regulatory Logic

This paper investigates the gene circuit control design problem of time-delayed genetic regulatory networks. In the genetic regulatory networks, the time delays are unknown constants, and the genetic regulatory is not conventional SUM regulatory logic and can be modeled to be an unknown nonlinear function of the time-delayed states of the other genes in a cell. By Lyapunov stability, a novel adaptive gene circuit control design approach is proposed for the genetic regulatory networks, where the unknown time delays are estimated online by adaptive algorithms and the unknown regulatory functions are approximated by neural networks. The design approach in this paper is delay-dependent and has less conservatism than the delay-independent approach. From theoretical analysis, the closed-loop system is asymptotically stable and all the signals in the system converge to an adjustable neighborhood of the origin. Finally, a numerical example is given to show the effectiveness of the new design approach.

Neural-Network-Based Adaptive Decentralized Fault-Tolerant Control for a Class of Interconnected Nonlinear Systems

This paper is concerned with the adaptive decentralized fault-tolerant tracking control problem for a class of uncertain interconnected nonlinear systems with unknown strong interconnections. An algebraic graph theory result is introduced to address the considered interconnections. In addition, to achieve the desirable tracking performance, a neural-network-based robust adaptive decentralized fault-tolerant control (FTC) scheme is given to compensate the actuator faults and system uncertainties. Furthermore, via the Lyapunov analysis method, it is proven that all the signals of the resulting closed-loop system are semiglobally bounded, and the tracking errors of each subsystem exponentially converge to a compact set, whose radius is adjustable by choosing different controller design parameters. Finally, the effectiveness and advantages of the proposed FTC approach are illustrated with two simulated examples.

Backstepping Design of Adaptive Neural Fault-Tolerant Control for MIMO Nonlinear Systems

In this paper, an adaptive controller is developed for a class of multi-input and multioutput nonlinear systems with neural networks (NNs) used as a modeling tool. It is shown that all the signals in the closed-loop system with the proposed adaptive neural controller are globally uniformly bounded for any external input in . In our control design, the upper bound of the NN modeling error and the gains of external disturbance are characterized by unknown upper bounds, which is more rational to establish the stability in the adaptive NN control. Filter-based modification terms are used in the update laws of unknown parameters to improve the transient performance. Finally, fault-tolerant control is developed to accommodate actuator failure. An illustrative example applying the adaptive controller to control a rigid robot arm shows the validation of the proposed controller.In this paper, an adaptive controller is developed for a class of multi-input and multioutput nonlinear systems with neural networks (NNs) used as a modeling tool. It is shown that all the signals in the closed-loop system with the proposed adaptive neural controller are globally uniformly bounded for any external input in . In our control design, the upper bound of the NN modeling error and the gains of external disturbance are characterized by unknown upper bounds, which is more rational to establish the stability in the adaptive NN control. Filter-based modification terms are used in the update laws of unknown parameters to improve the transient performance. Finally, fault-tolerant control is developed to accommodate actuator failure. An illustrative example applying the adaptive controller to control a rigid robot arm shows the validation of the proposed controller.

Adaptive Neural Control of Uncertain Nonlinear Systems Using Disturbance Observer

This paper studies the problem of prescribed performance adaptive neural control for a class of uncertain multi-input and multi-output (MIMO) nonlinear systems in the presence of external disturbances and input saturation based on a disturbance observer. The system uncertainties are tackled by neural network (NN) approximation. To handle unknown disturbances, a Nussbaum disturbance observer is presented. By incorporating the disturbance observer and NNs, an adaptive prescribed performance neural control scheme is further developed. Then, the expected asymptotically convergent tracking errors between system output signals and desired signals are achieved. Numerical simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.

Adaptive Fuzzy Output-Constrained Fault-Tolerant Control of Nonlinear Stochastic Large-Scale Systems With Actuator Faults

The problem of adaptive fuzzy output-constrained tracking fault-tolerant control (FTC) is investigated for the large-scale stochastic nonlinear systems of pure-feedback form. The nonlinear systems considered in this paper possess the unstructured uncertainties, unknown interconnected terms and unknown nonaffine nonlinear faults. The fuzzy logic systems are employed to identify the unknown lumped nonlinear functions so that the problems of structured uncertainties can be solved. An adaptive fuzzy state observer is designed to solve the nonmeasurable state problem. By combining the barrier Lyapunov function theory, adaptive decentralized and stochastic control principles, a novel fuzzy adaptive output-constrained FTC approach is constructed. All the signals in the closed-loop system are proved to be bounded in probability and the system outputs are constrained in a given compact set. Finally, the applicability of the proposed controller is well carried out by a simulation example.

Barrier Function-Based Neural Adaptive Control With Locally Weighted Learning and Finite Neuron Self-Growing Strategy

This paper presents a new approach to construct neural adaptive control for uncertain nonaffine systems. By integrating locally weighted learning with barrier Lyapunov function (BLF), a novel control design method is presented to systematically address the two critical issues in neural network (NN) control field: one is how to fulfill the compact set precondition for NN approximation, and the other is how to use varying rather than a fixed NN structure to improve the functionality of NN control. A BLF is exploited to ensure the NN inputs to remain bounded during the entire system operation. To account for system nonlinearities, a neuron self-growing strategy is proposed to guide the process for adding new neurons to the system, resulting in a self-adjustable NN structure for better learning capabilities. It is shown that the number of neurons needed to accomplish the control task is finite, and better performance can be obtained with less number of neurons as compared with traditional methods. The salient feature of the proposed method also lies in the continuity of the control action everywhere. Furthermore, the resulting control action is smooth almost everywhere except for a few time instants at which new neurons are added. Numerical example illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Nonlinear Model Predictive Control Based on a Self-Organizing Recurrent Neural Network

A nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) scheme is developed in this paper based on a self-organizing recurrent radial basis function (SR-RBF) neural network, whose structure and parameters are adjusted concurrently in the training process. The proposed SR-RBF neural network is represented in a general nonlinear form for predicting the future dynamic behaviors of nonlinear systems. To improve the modeling accuracy, a spiking-based growing and pruning algorithm and an adaptive learning algorithm are developed to tune the structure and parameters of the SR-RBF neural network, respectively. Meanwhile, for the control problem, an improved gradient method is utilized for the solution of the optimization problem in NMPC. The stability of the resulting control system is proved based on the Lyapunov stability theory. Finally, the proposed SR-RBF neural network-based NMPC (SR-RBF-NMPC) is used to control the dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration in a wastewater treatment process (WWTP). Comparisons with other existing methods demonstrate that the SR-RBF-NMPC can achieve a considerably better model fitting for WWTP and a better control performance for DO concentration.

A Unified Approach to Adaptive Neural Control for Nonlinear Discrete-Time Systems With Nonlinear Dead-Zone Input

In this paper, an effective adaptive control approach is constructed to stabilize a class of nonlinear discrete-time systems, which contain unknown functions, unknown dead-zone input, and unknown control direction. Different from linear dead zone, the dead zone, in this paper, is a kind of nonlinear dead zone. To overcome the noncausal problem, which leads to the control scheme infeasible, the systems can be transformed into a m -step-ahead predictor. Due to nonlinear dead-zone appearance, the transformed predictor still contains the nonaffine function. In addition, it is assumed that the gain function of dead-zone input and the control direction are unknown. These conditions bring about the difficulties and the complicacy in the controller design. Thus, the implicit function theorem is applied to deal with nonaffine dead-zone appearance, the problem caused by the unknown control direction can be resolved through applying the discrete Nussbaum gain, and the neural networks are used to approximate the unknown function. Based on the Lyapunov theory, all the signals of the resulting closed-loop system are proved to be semiglobal uniformly ultimately bounded. Moreover, the tracking error is proved to be regulated to a small neighborhood around zero. The feasibility of the proposed approach is demonstrated by a simulation example.

Adaptive Neural Control of a Class of Output-Constrained Nonaffine Systems

In this paper, we present a novel tracking controller for a class of uncertain nonaffine systems with time-varying asymmetric output constraints. Firstly, the original nonaffine constrained (in the sense of the output signal) control system is transformed into a output-feedback control problem of an unconstrained affine system in normal form. As a result, stabilization of the transformed system is sufficient to ensure constraint satisfaction. It is subsequently shown that the output tracking is achieved without violation of the predefined asymmetric time-varying output constraints. Therefore, we are capable of quantifying the system performance bounds as functions of time on both transient and steady-state stages. Furthermore, the transformed system is linear with respect to a new input signal and the traditional backstepping scheme is avoided, which makes the synthesis extremely simplified. All the signals in the closed-loop system are proved to be semi-globally, uniformly, and ultimately bounded via Lyapunov synthesis. Finally, the simulation results are presented to illustrate the performance of the proposed controller.

A direct self-constructing neural controller design for a class of nonlinear systems

This paper is concerned with the problem of adaptive neural control for a class of uncertain or ill-defined nonaffine nonlinear systems. Using a self-organizing radial basis function neural network (RBFNN), a direct self-constructing neural controller (DSNC) is designed so that unknown nonlinearities can be approximated and the closed-loop system is stable. The key features of the proposed DSNC design scheme can be summarized as follows. First, different from the existing results in literature, a self-organizing RBFNN with adaptive threshold is constructed online for DSNC to improve the control performance. Second, the control law and adaptive law for the weights of RBFNN are established so that the closed-loop system is stable in the term of Lyapunov stability theory. Third, the tracking error is guaranteed to uniformly asymptotically converge to zero with the aid of an additional robustifying control term. An example is finally given to demonstrate the design procedure and the performance of the proposed method. Simulation results reveal the effectiveness of the proposed method.