Robust output tracking for non-linear systems

The problem of output tracking for a single-input single-output non-linear system in the presence of uncertainties is studied. The notions relative degree and minimum-phase for non-linear systems are reviewed. Given a bounded desired tracking signal with bounded derivatives, a control law is designed for minimum-phase non-linear systems which results in tracking of this signal by the output. This control law is modified in the presence of uncertainties associated with the model vector fields to reduce the effects of these uncertainties on the tracking errors. Two types of uncertainties are considered: those satisfying a generalized matching condition but otherwise unstructured, and linear parametric uncertainties. It is shown that for systems with the first type of uncertainty, high-gain control laws can result in small tracking errors of O(∊), where e is a small design parameter. An alternative scheme based on variable structure control strategy is shown to yield zero tracking errors. Adaptive control techniques are used for systems with linear parametric uncertainties. For systems with relative degree larger than one, a new adaptive control scheme is presented which is considerably simpler than the augmented error scheme suggested previously by Narendra et al. (1978) for linear systems and by Sastry and Isidori (1987) for non-linear systems. Contrary to the augmented error scheme, however, this scheme results in small rather than zero tracking errors.