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This article proposes an adaptive trajectory tracking control scheme for low-speed car-like vehicles with less efforts in tuning of the control gains. An interesting way of integrating adaptive control gains with consideration of steering saturation by using the backstepping technique is designed to enhance trajectory tracking while ensuring the commanded inputs within the input boundaries. The design of such adaptive control gains is also based on enhancing the convergence rate of tracking errors, especially for lateral deviation from the reference trajectory. It is further theoretically proven that, even under the influence of steering saturation, the proposed controller can make the closed-loop system approximately globally asymptotically stable at zero errors. Comparative MATLAB/Simulink simulations and experimental tests based on Quanser latest self-driving car have been conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme in accurate tracking without violating the input constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current maritime applications have yielded strong demands for the development of advanced unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) with more reliable path following capabilities to greatly extend mission durations and enhance accommodative capabilities of USVs to more hazardous and dynamic environments. This paper presents an adaptive path following control method using a retrofit adaptive tracking control technique with application to a USV with consideration of environmental disturbances (like winds, waves, and currents), while taking into account of the system constraints of USVs, including both turning features (turning rate limit and turning dynamics) and rudder operation constraints (rudder deflection and rate saturation, and its dynamics). In order to guarantee the satisfactory performance of the USV operating in a calm environment, a baseline state feedback tracking controller considering the characteristics of yaw rate and rudder operations, and USV steering and actuator dynamics is first designed. In the presence of time-varying environmental disturbances, a retrofit adaptive disturbance compensating control mechanism is then developed based on the disturbance amplitude estimated from an indirect adaptive disturbance estimator. Finally, a reconfigurable adaptive path following controller is synthesized by combining the baseline controller and the adaptive disturbance compensating mechanism for the proper operation of the USV in the presence of environmental disturbances, while the desired path is successfully followed by the USV within an acceptable deviation boundary and without violating constraints of turning rates as well as amplitude and rate of rudder deflections. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed path following control methodology, both numerical simulations on a nonlinear USV model and field experiments on a real-size USV are conducted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among renewable energy sources, wind power is expected to contribute a larger and rapidly growing portion of the world's energy portfolio. However, the increased penetration of wind power into the power grid has challenged the reliable and stable operation of the grid. This motivates new opportunities in the design and development of novel control schemes capable of actively maintaining the necessary balance between power generation and load, which in turn regulates the grid frequency when plenty of winds are available. This paper presents two active power control schemes that are developed based on adaptive pole placement control and fuzzy gain-scheduled proportional-integral control approaches. The active power control is conducted collectively across a wind farm to provide rapid power response while maintaining safe structural loading on turbines’ components. The proposed active power control schemes are evaluated and compared by a series of simulations on an advanced wind farm benchmark model in the presence of wind turbulences, measurement noises, and grid load variations. It is further demonstrated that the mentioned schemes are able to tolerate probable occurrence of sudden imbalance between generation and load due to relevant faults/failures in the wind farm or electric grid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study results of developing formation control system for multi-spacecraft that requires avoiding obstacles and maintaining the formation configuration are presented. In particular, nonlinear adaptive feedback control law is developed by employing special potential functions and a kind of time-varying sliding manifold, to enable the spacecraft formation in a specific configuration by taking into account the obstacle avoidance requirement while tracking a moving target in a way of cooperation or not. Moreover, capability for handling multiple tasks by the proposed control system is demonstrated in the presence of disturbances and parametric uncertainties. The stability proof is based on a Lyapunov-like analysis and the properties of the proposed potential functions. Numerical simulation of the proposed method is presented to demonstrate the advantages with respect to obstacle avoidance, fast tracking and formation flying configuration reconstruction capability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the control problem of air-breathing hypersonic vehicles subject to input nonlinearities, aerodynamic uncertainties and flexible modes. An adaptive backstepping controller and a dynamic inverse controller are developed for the altitude subsystem and the velocity subsystem, respectively, where the former eliminates the problem of “explosion of terms” inherent in backstepping control. Moreover, a modified smooth inverse of the dead-zone is proposed to compensate for the dead-zone effects and reduce the computational burden. Based on this smooth inverse, an input nonlinear pre-compensator is designed to handle input saturation and dead-zone nonlinearities, which leads to a simpler control design for the altitude subsystem subject to these two input nonlinearities. It is proved that the proposed controllers can guarantee that all closed-loop signals are bounded and the tracking errors converge to an arbitrarily small residual set. Simulation results are carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a dual adaptive fault-tolerant control strategy for a quadrotor helicopter based on adaptive sliding mode control and adaptive boundary layer. Within the proposed adaptive control strategy, both model uncertainties and actuator faults can be compensated without the knowledge of the uncertainty bounds and fault information. By virtue of the proposed adaptive control scheme, the minimum discontinuous control gain is adopted, which significantly reduces the control chattering effect. As compared to the existing adaptive sliding mode control schemes in the literature, larger actuator faults can be tolerated by employing the proposed control scheme while suppressing control chattering. Moreover, boundary layer is used to smoothen control discontinuity and further eliminate control chattering. Nevertheless, the choice of boundary layer thickness is a trade-off between system stability and tracking accuracy. By explicitly considering this fact, an adaptive boundary layer is developed and synthesized with the proposed adaptive control framework to ensure stability and tracking accuracy of the considered system. When the control parameter tends to be overestimated, the thickness of boundary layer can be appropriately adjusted to avoid control parameter overestimation. Simulation and experimental tests of a quadrotor helicopter are both conducted to validate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme. Its advantages are demonstrated in comparison with a conventional adaptive sliding mode control scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]