Improved LMI conditions for gain scheduling and related control problems

The gain scheduling problem considered in this paper concerns a linear system whose state-space equations depend rationally on real, time-varying parameters, which are measured in real time. A stabilizing, parameter-dependent controller is sought, such that a given ℒ︁2-gain bound for the closed-loop system is ensured. Sufficient linear matrix inequality (LMI) conditions are known, that guarantee the existence of such ‘gain-scheduled’ controllers. This paper improves these results in two directions. First, we show how to exploit the realness of the parameters using a ‘skew-symmetric scaling’ technique. Moreover, we show how to apply this technique in a time-varying and/or nonlinear setting. We first devise a general result pertaining to control synthesis of interconnection of dissipative operators, and apply it to the gain-scheduling problem. Owing to its generality, this result can be applied to other problems such as anti-windup control, nonlinear control and model reduction.