A simple robust controller for a class of nonlinear systems (Q4944618)

A robust state-feedback controller is proposed to solve the tracking problem for a class of nonlinear SISO systems with uncertainties, of the form \[ \begin{alignedat}{2} \dot x_i&= x_{i+1}+ \Phi_i({\mathbf x},u, \theta(t),t), &\quad &i=1,\dots, n-1;\\ \dot x_n &= u+ \Phi_n({\mathbf x},u, \theta(t),t); &\quad &y=x_1, \end{alignedat} \] where \(u\), \(y\) are the input and output, respectively, \({\mathbf x}= (x_1,\dots, x_n)^T\) is the state vector, \(\theta(t)\) denotes a bounded parameter vector and the continuous functions \(\Phi_i ({\mathbf x},u, \theta(t),t)\) represent the system nonlinearities and uncertainties. The boundedness assumptions formulated for the functions \(\Phi_i ({\mathbf x},u, \theta(t),t)\), the reference signal \(y_r(t)\) and its derivative \(\dot y_r(t)\), are relaxed in comparison with similar works. The approach relies on the backstepping design procedure and results in a control structure which is simpler than other architectures reported in literature, also allowing the reduction of the control effort. The good performance is illustrated by a simulation example.