Input-Constrained Funnel Control of Nonlinear Systems
Thomas Berger
Abstract
We study tracking control for uncertain nonlinear multi-input, multi-output systems modelled by <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$r$</tex-math></inline-formula> -th order functional differential equations (encompassing systems with arbitrary strict relative degree) in the presence of input constraints. The objective is to guarantee the evolution of the tracking error within a performance funnel with prescribed asymptotic shape (thus achieving desired transient and asymptotic accuracy objectives), for any sufficiently smooth reference signal. We design a novel funnel controller which, in order to satisfy the input constraints, contains a dynamic component which widens the funnel boundary whenever the input saturation is active. This design is model-free, of low-complexity and extends earlier funnel control approaches. We present a simulation where the controller is compared to these approaches.