This paper presents a new adaptive observer design method for a class of uncertain nonlinear systems by using spline approximation. This scheme leads to a simplified observer structure which requires only fixed number of integrations, regardless of the number of parameters to be estimated. This benefit can reduce the number of integrations of the observer filter dramatically. Moreover, the proposed adaptive observer automatically generates the required spline elements according to the varying output value and, as a result, does not requires the pre-knowledge of upper and lower bounds of the output. This is another benefit of our approach since the requirement for known output bounds have been one of the main drawbacks of practical universal approximation problems. Both of the benefits stem from the local support property, which is specific to splines.

This paper focuses on the problem of guaranteed cost control for a class of uncertain linear delay systems with actuator failures. When actuators suffer "serious failure" the never failed actuators can not stabilize the system, based on switching strategy of average dwell time method, under the condition that activation time ratio between the system without actuator failure and the system with actuator failures is not less than a specified constant, a sufficient condition for exponential stability and weighted guaranteed cost performance are developed in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). Finally, as an example, a river pollution control problem illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

This paper presents a new algorithm for the closed-loop $H_{\infty}$ control of a class of singularly perturbed nonlinear systems with an exogenous disturbance, using the successive Galerkin approximation (SGA). The singularly perturbed nonlinear system is decomposed into two subsystems of a slow-time scale and a fast-time scale in the spirit of the general theory of singular perturbation. Two $H_{\infty}$ control laws are obtained to each subsystem by using the SGA method. The composite control law that consists of two $H_{\infty}$ control laws of each subsystem is designed. One of the purposes of this paper is to design the closed-loop $H_{\infty}$ composite control law for the singularly perturbed nonlinear systems via the SGA method. The other is to reduce the computational complexity when the SGA method is applied to the high order systems.

Properties and potential applications of the block pulse response circulant matrix (PRCM) and its singular value decomposition (SVD) are investigated in relation to MIMO control and identification. The SVD of the PRCM is found to provide complete directional as well as frequency decomposition of a MIMO system in a real matrix form. Three examples were considered: design of MIMO FIR controller, design of robust reduced-order model predictive controller, and input design for MIMO identification. The examples manifested the effectiveness and usefulness of the PRCM in the design of MIMO control and identification. irculant matrix, SVD, MIMO control, identification.

In this paper, we develop a co-design methodology of stochastic optimal controllers and network parameters that optimizes the overall quality of control (QoC) in networked control systems (NCSs). A new dynamic model for NCSs is provided. The relationship between the system stability and performance and the sampling frequency is investigated, and the analysis of co-design of control and network parameters is presented to determine the working range of the sampling frequency in an NCS. This optimal sampling frequency range is derived based on the system dynamics and the network characteristics such as data rate, time-delay upper bound, data-packet size, and device processing time. With the optimal sampling frequency, stochastic optimal controllers are designed to improve the overall QoC in an NCS. This co-design methodology is a useful rule of thumb to choose the network and control parameters for NCS implementation. The feasibility and effectiveness of this co-design methodology is verified experimentally by our NCS test bed, a ball magnetic-levitation (maglev) system.

This paper presents a neural network based decentralized excitation controller design for large-scale power systems. The proposed controller design considers not only the dynamics of generators but also the algebraic constraints of the power flow equations. The control signals are calculated using only local signals. The transient stability and the coordination of the subsystem control activities are guaranteed through rigorous stability analysis. Neural networks in the controller design are used to approximate the unknown/imprecise dynamics of the local power system and the interconnections. All signals in the closed loop system are guaranteed to be uniformly ultimately bounded. To evaluate its performance, the proposed controller design is compared with conventional controllers optimized using particle swarm optimization. Simulations with a three-machine power system under different disturbances demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller design.

The important field of research in ship operation is related to the high efficiency of transportation, the convenience of maneuvering ships and the safety of navigation. For these purposes, many intelligent technologies for ship automation have been required and studied. In this paper, we propose an intelligent voice instruction-based learning (VIBL) method and discuss the building of a ship's steering control system based on this method. The VIBL system concretely consists of two functions: a text conversion function where an instructor's inputted voice is recognized and converted to text, and a linguistic instruction based learning function where the text instruction is understood through a searching process of given meaning elements. As a study method, the fuzzy theory is adopted to build maneuvering models of steersmen and then the existing LIBL is improved and combined with the voice recognition technology to propose the VIBL. The ship steering control system combined with VIBL is tested in a ship maneuvering simulator and its validity is shown.

This paper proposes a simpler solution to the stabilization problem of a special class of nonlinear underactuated mechanical systems which includes widely studied benchmark systems like Inertia Wheel Pendulum, TORA and Acrobot. Complex internal dynamics and lack of exact feedback linearizibility of these systems makes design of control law a challenging task. Stabilization of these systems has been achieved using Energy Shaping and damping injection and Backstepping technique. Former results in hybrid or switching architectures that make stability analysis complicated whereas use of backstepping some times requires closed form explicit solutions of highly nonlinear equations resulting from partial feedback linearization. It also exhibits the phenomenon of explosions of terms resulting in a highly complicated control law. Exploiting recently introduced Dynamic Surface Control technique and using control Lyapunov function method, a novel nonlinear controller design is presented as a solution to these problems. The stability of the closed loop system is analyzed by exploiting its two-time scale nature and applying concepts from Singular Perturbation Theory. The design procedure is shown to be simpler and more intuitive than existing designs. Design has been applied to important benchmark systems belonging to the class demonstrating controller design simplicity. Advantages over conventional Energy Shaping and Backstepping controllers are analyzed theoretically and performance is verified using numerical simulations.

In this paper, the dynamic controller design problem of a redundant planar 2-dof parallel manipulator is studied. Using the Euler-Lagrange equation, we formulate the dynamic model of the parallel manipulator in the joint space and propose an augmented PD controller with forward dynamic compensation for the parallel manipulator. By formulating the controller in the joint space, we eliminate the complex computation of the Jacobian matrix of joint angles with end-effector coordinate. So with less computation, our controller is easier to implement, and a shorter sampling period can be achieved, which makes the controller more suitable for high-speed motion control. Furthermore, with the combination of static friction model and viscous friction model, the active joint friction of the parallel manipulator is studied and compensated in the controller. Based on the dynamic parameters of the parallel manipulator evaluated by direct measurement and identification, motion control experiments are implemented. With the experiments, the validity of the dynamic model is proved and the performance of the controller is evaluated. Experiment results show that, with forward dynamic compensation, the augmented PD controller can improve the tracking performance of the parallel manipulator over the simple PD controller.

This paper presents a hexagon-based Q-leaning algorithm to find a hidden targer object with multiple robots. An experimental environment was designed with five small mobile robots, obstacles, and a target object. Robots went in search of a target object while navigating in a hallway where obstacles were strategically placed. This experiment employed two control algorithms: an area-based action making (ABAM) process to determine the next action of the robots and hexagon-based Q-learning to enhance the area-based action making process.

Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) is the process of building a map of an unknown environment and simultaneously localizing a robot relative to this map. SLAM is very important for the indoor navigation of a mobile robot and much research has been conducted on this subject. Although feature-based SLAM using an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) is widely used, it has shortcomings in that the computational complexity grows in proportion to the square of the number of features. This prohibits EKF-SLAM from operating in real time and makes it unfeasible in large environments where many features exist. This paper presents an algorithm which reduces the computational complexity of EKF-SLAM by using topological information (TI) extracted through a thinning process. The global map can be divided into local areas using the nodes of a thinning-based topological map. SLAM is then performed in local instead of global areas. Experimental results for various environments show that the performance and efficiency of the proposed EKF-SLAM/TI scheme are excellent.

BACnet is a standard data communication protocol especially designed for building automation and control networks. BACnet uses the Master-Slave/Token-Passing (MS/TP) protocol as one of its field-level networks. In this study, the performance of the BACnet MS/TP protocol is evaluated using an experimental model. The network performance is investigated and evaluated in terms of token rotation time and round trip time. The experimental results show that the performance of the MS/TP network is heavily influenced by the network traffic load, the assignment of MS/TP node address and the network configuration parameter called $N_{max_info-frames}$. Based on the experimental results, simple practical designing guidelines for BACnet MS/TP network systems are also proposed.

A sufficient condition for the robust D-stability of dynamic interval systems is proposed in this paper. This D-stability condition is based on a parameter-dependent Lyapunov function obtained from the feasibility of a set of matrix inequalities defined at a series of partial-vertex-based interval matrices other than the total vertex matrices as previous results. This condition is also extended to the robust D-stabilization problem of dynamic interval systems, which supplies an effective synthesis procedure for any LMI D-region. The proposed conditions can be simplified to a set of LMIs, which can be solved by efficient interior point methods in polynomial time.

In this paper, we propose a simple and relative electrode contact monitoring method. By exploiting the power line interference, which is regarded as one of the worst noise sources for bio-potential measurement, the relative difference in electrode impedance can be measured without a current or voltage source. Substantial benefits, including no extra circuit components, no degradation of the body potential driving circuit, and no electrical safety problem, can be achieved using this method. Furthermore, this method can be applied to multi-channel isolated bio-potential measurement systems and home health care devices under a steady measuring environment.