Exponential stabilization of an overhead crane with flexible cable via a back-stepping approach (Q1975554)

The present paper is a continuation of a 1997 paper of the same authors and on the same subject [Exponential stabilization of an overhead crane with flexible cable via the cascade approach, Proceeding of IFAC-SYROCO 1997 Conference in Nantes], i.e. stabilization of an overhead crane by a flexible cable. The cable has no resistance to bending, but the longitudinal extension is ``small'' and is ignored. In the previous publication, the authors proved that by using a cascaded structure of this hybrid beam-cable system, in the style of Kanellakopoulos, Kokotovic et al., the system can be controlled by a boundary feedback stabilizing the system. The proof utilized a construction of a Lyapunov function. Now, as proposed by \textit{R. Datko} [Extending a theorem of A. M Lyapunov to a Hilbert space, J. Math. Anal. Appl. 32, 610-616 (1970; Zbl 0211.16802)], they use a Lyapunov function based on a different norm, which is related to the energy of the system, and they construct a boundary feedback control that produces uniform exponential stability.