Performance Enhancement of Learning Tracking Systems Over Fading Channels With Multiplicative and Additive Randomness

A Novel Accelerated Multistage Learning Control Mechanism via Virtual Performance Reduction

This study uses a multistage learning mechanism concept to investigate the accelerated learning control for stochastic systems. In this mechanism, the learning iterations are divided into successive stages, with each stage comprising several iterations. The learning gain is constant in each stage to accelerate the learning process and decreases it from one stage to another to eliminate the noise effect asymptotically. The critical issue is determining the switching iteration when a new stage starts. This study resolves this issue by calculating a virtual performance index of the mean-squared input error and its estimated upper bound. Specifically, the ideal, practical, and improved multistage learning control schemes are proposed to determine the switching iteration and generate the learning gain sequence. The ideal scheme achieves the best performance at the cost of a large computation burden, and the practical scheme saves computation cost, but the performance is not excellent. The improved scheme significantly approximates the best performance by introducing additional stretching parameters to the performance index. Illustrative simulations are provided to verify the theoretical results.

A Probabilistically Quantized Learning Control Framework for Networked Linear Systems

In this article, we consider quantized learning control for linear networked systems with additive channel noise. Our objective is to achieve high tracking performance while reducing the communication burden on the communication network. To address this problem, we propose an integrated framework consisting of two modules: a probabilistic quantizer and a learning scheme. The employed probabilistic quantizer is developed by employing a Bernoulli distribution driven by the quantization errors. Three learning control schemes are studied, namely, a constant gain, a decreasing gain sequence satisfying certain conditions, and an optimal gain sequence that is recursively generated based on a performance index. We show that the control with a constant gain can only ensure the input error sequence to converge to a bounded sphere in a mean-square sense, where the radius of this sphere is proportional to the constant gain. On the contrary, we show that the control that employs any of the two proposed gain sequences drives the input error to zero in the mean-square sense. In addition, we show that the convergence rate associated with the constant gain is exponential, whereas the rate associated with the proposed gain sequences is not faster than a specific exponential trend. Illustrative simulations are provided to demonstrate the convergence rate properties and steady-state tracking performance associated with each gain, and their robustness against modeling uncertainties.

Event-Triggered Model-Free Adaptive Iterative Learning Control for a Class of Nonlinear Systems Over Fading Channels

This article investigates the problem of event-triggered model-free adaptive iterative learning control (MFAILC) for a class of nonlinear systems over fading channels. The fading phenomenon existing in output channels is modeled as an independent Gaussian distribution with mathematical expectation and variance. An event-triggered condition along both iteration domain and time domain is constructed in order to save the communication resources in the iteration. The considered nonlinear system is converted into an equivalent linearization model and then the event-triggered MFAILC independent of the system model is constructed with the faded outputs. Rigorous analysis and convergence proof are developed to verify the ultimately boundedness of the tracking error by using the Lyapunov function. Finally, the effectiveness of the presented algorithm is demonstrated with a numerical example and a velocity tracking control example of wheeled mobile robots (WMRs).

Accelerated Learning Control for Point-to-Point Tracking Systems

In this study, we investigate the accelerated learning control schemes for point-to-point tracking systems (PTSs) with measurement noise. The asymptotic convergence of the generated input sequence has been a long-standing open issue for point-to-point tracking problems because there are infinite possible input candidates that can drive the system dynamics to track the desired reference at specified time instants. An accelerated gradient algorithm and its generalized version with a novel direction regulation matrix are proposed, with the learning gain is adaptively triggered by the practical tracking errors. The learning gain remains constant at the early stage and begins to decrease after a certain number of iterations. The input sequence generated by the proposed scheme converges to a specified limit for any fixed initial input, with the limit being closest to the initial input, in a certain sense. Numerical simulations are provided to verify the theoretical results.

Zero-Error Tracking Control Under Unified Quantized Iterative Learning Framework via Encoding-Decoding Method

This article considers the zero-error tracking problem of quantized iterative learning control for a general networked structure where the data are quantized and transmitted through limited communication channels at both measurement and actuator sides. An encoding and decoding mechanism is introduced into a simple uniform quantizer. The system output is first encoded and quantized and then transmitted to the controller. When the data are received, they are decoded and applied to generate the input for the next iteration. After that, the generated input is transmitted following the same procedure as the output transmission, that is, encoding, quantizing, transmitting, and decoding. For this learning tracking framework, the asymptotic zero-error tracking performance is strictly proved for both infinite- and finite-level uniform quantizers. For practical implementation, a promising selection of the scaling sequences and the associated quantization level for the finite-level case is explicitly defined. Simulations are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed schemes.

Learning Tracking Over Unknown Fading Channels Based on Iterative Estimation

With fast developments in communication technologies, a large number of practical systems adopt the networked control structure. For this structure, the fading problem is an emerging issue among other network problems. It has not been extensively investigated how to guarantee superior control performance in the presence of unknown fading channels. This article presents a learning strategy for gradually improving the tracking performance. To this end, an iterative estimation mechanism is first introduced to provide necessary statistical information such that the biased signals after transmission can be corrected before being utilized. Then, learning control algorithms incorporating with a decreasing step-size sequence are designed for both output and input fading cases. The convergence in both mean-square and almost-sure senses of the proposed schemes is strictly proved under mild conditions. Illustrative simulations verify the effectiveness of the entire learning framework.

Learning Tracking Control Over Unknown Fading Channels Without System Information

A novel data-driven learning control scheme is proposed for unknown systems with unknown fading sensor channels. The fading randomness is modeled by multiplicative and additive random variables subject to certain unknown distributions. In this scheme, we propose an error transmission mode and an iterative gradient estimation method. Unlike the conventional transmission mode where the output is directly transmitted back to the controller, in the error transmission mode, we send the desired reference to the plant such that tracking errors can be calculated locally and then transmitted back through the fading channel. Using the faded tracking error data only, the gradient for updating input is iteratively estimated by a random difference technique along the iteration axis. This gradient acts as the updating term of the control signal; therefore, information on the system and the fading channel is no longer required. The proposed scheme is proved effective in tracking the desired reference under random fading communication environments. Theoretical results are verified by simulations.

Convergence Analysis of Saturated Iterative Learning Control Systems With Locally Lipschitz Nonlinearities

In this article, the robust trajectory tracking problem of iterative learning control (ILC) for uncertain nonlinear systems is considered, and the effects from locally Lipschitz nonlinearities, input saturations, and nonzero system relative degrees are treated. A saturated ILC algorithm is given, with the convergence analysis exploited using a composite energy function-based approach. It is shown that the tracking error can be guaranteed to converge both pointwisely and uniformly. Furthermore, the input updating signal can be ensured to eventually satisfy the input saturation requirements with increasing iterations. Two examples are given to demonstrate the validity of saturated ILC for systems with the relative degree of one, input saturation, and locally Lipschitz nonlinearity.