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In this paper, we design an output-feedback controller to stabilize n +m hetero-directional transport partial differential equations (PDEs) coupled on both domain boundaries to ordinary differential equations (ODEs). This class of systems can represent, for instance, actuator and load dynamics at the boundaries of a hyperbolic system. The actuator is located at the connection point between the PDE and one of the ODEs, and we consider anti-collocated PDE measurements. We first design a state-observer by combining the backstepping methodology with time-delay system approaches. We then introduce a state feedback controller using analogous techniques before designing the wanted output-feedback control law.

In this paper, we design a stabilizing state-feedback control law for a system represented by a general class of integral delay equations subject to a pointwise and distributed input delay. The proposed controller is defined in terms of integrals of the state and input history over a fixed-length time window. We show that the closed-loop stability is guaranteed, provided the controller integral kernels are solutions to a set of Fredholm equations. The existence of solutions is guaranteed under an appropriate spectral controllability assumption, resulting in an implementable stabilizing control law. The proposed methodology appears simpler and more general compared to existing results in the literature. In particular, under additional regularity assumptions, the proposed approach can be expanded to address the degenerate case where only a distributed control term is present., Comment: IEEE Control Systems Letters, In press

In this paper, we design a controller for an interconnected system consisting of a linear Stochastic Differential Equation (SDE) actuated through a linear hyperbolic Partial Differential Equation (PDE). Our approach aims to minimize the variance of the state of the SDE component. We leverage a backstepping technique to transform the original PDE into an uncoupled stochastic PDE. As such, we reformulate our initial problem as the control of a delayed SDE with a non-deterministic drift. Under standard controllability assumptions, we design a controller steering the mean of the states to zero while keeping its covariance bounded. As final step, we address the optimal control of the delayed SDE employing Artstein's transformation and Linear Quadratic stochastic control techniques., Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure. Submitted to L-CSS journal jointly with CDC conference

This paper proposes a backstepping boundary control design for robust stabilization of linear first-order coupled hyperbolic partial differential equations (PDEs) with Markov-jumping parameters. The PDE system consists of 4 X 4 coupled hyperbolic PDEs whose first three characteristic speeds are positive and the last one is negative. We first design a full-state feedback boundary control law for a nominal, deterministic system using the backstepping method. Then, by applying Lyapunov analysis methods, we prove that the nominal backstepping control law can stabilize the PDE system with Markov jumping parameters if the nominal parameters are sufficiently close to the stochastic ones on average. The mean-square exponential stability conditions are theoretically derived and then validated via numerical simulations., Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2310.15547

Incremental stability is assessed for the Unidirectional Flow Model, which describes the flow of a conserved quantity in a cascade of compartments. The model is governed by a cooperative system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations with a right-hand side that depends on an input function. Suitable conditions are given on the input function such that the solutions to the model converge to each other at an exponential rate. Milder conditions, compared with the latter, are given such that the solutions to the model converge to each other asymptotically. These conditions are related to inflow-connected and outflow-connected compartmental systems and are easy to check. Computational means to estimate the exponential rate are given and tested against numerical solutions of the model. A natural application of incremental stability is state estimation, demonstrated in the numerical experiments, put into a traffic flow context.

In this paper, we introduce a novel approach to solve the (mean-covariance) steering problem for a fairly general class of linear continuous-time stochastic systems subject to input delays. Specifically, we aim at steering delayed linear stochastic differential equations to a final desired random variable with given mean and covariance. We first establish a controllability result for these control systems, revealing the existence of a lower bound under which the covariance of the control system can not be steered. This structural threshold covariance stems from a unique combined effect due to stochastic diffusions and delays. Next, we propose a numerically cheap approach to reach any neighbor of this threshold covariance in finite time. Via an optimal control-based strategy, we enhance the aforementioned approach to keep the system covariance small at will in the whole control horizon. Under some additional assumptions on the dynamics, we give theoretical guarantees on the efficiency of our method. Finally, numerical simulations are provided to ground our theoretical findings, showcasing the ability of our methods in optimally approaching the covariance threshold.

Control of mixed-autonomy traffic where Human-driven Vehicles (HVs) and Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) coexist on the road has gained increasing attention over the recent decades. This paper addresses the boundary stabilization problem for mixed traffic on freeways. The traffic dynamics are described by uncertain coupled hyperbolic partial differential equations (PDEs) with Markov jumping parameters, which aim to address the distinctive driving strategies between AVs and HVs. Considering that the spacing policies of AVs vary in mixed traffic, the stochastic impact area of AVs is governed by a continuous Markov chain. The interactions between HVs and AVs such as overtaking or lane changing are mainly induced by impact areas. Using backstepping design, we develop a full-state feedback boundary control law to stabilize the deterministic system (nominal system). Applying Lyapunov analysis, we demonstrate that the nominal backstepping control law is able to stabilize the traffic system with Markov jumping parameters, provided the nominal parameters are sufficiently close to the stochastic ones on average. The mean-square exponential stability conditions are derived, and the results are validated by numerical simulations.

In this paper, we consider continuous-time stochastic optimal control problems where the cost is evaluated through a coherent risk measure. We provide an explicit gradient descent-ascent algorithm which applies to problems subject to non-linear stochastic differential equations. More specifically, we leverage duality properties of coherent risk measures to relax the problem via a smooth min-max reformulation which induces artificial strong concavity in the max subproblem. We then formulate necessary conditions of optimality for this relaxed problem which we leverage to prove convergence of the gradient descent-ascent algorithm to candidate solutions of the original problem. Finally, we showcase the efficiency of our algorithm through numerical simulations involving trajectory tracking problems and highlight the benefit of favoring risk measures over classical expectation.

An adaptive observer is proposed to estimate the synaptic distribution between neurons asymptotically from the measurement of a part of the neuronal activity and a delayed neural field evolution model. The convergence of the observer is proved under a persistency of excitation condition. Then, the observer is used to derive a feedback law ensuring asymptotic stabilization of the neural fields. Finally, the feedback law is modified to ensure simultaneously practical stabilization of the neural fields and asymptotic convergence of the observer under additional restrictions on the system. Numerical simulations confirm the relevance of the approach.

An adaptive observer is designed for online estimation of Hilbert-Schmidt operators from online measurement of the state for some class of nonlinear infinite-dimensional dynamical systems. Convergence is ensured under detectability and persistency of excitation assumptions. The class of systems considered is motivated by an application to kernel reconstruction of neural fields, commonly used to model spatiotemporal activity of neuronal populations. Numerical simulations confirm the relevance of the approach.

Recently, [2] proved that the closed-loop system resulting from the output proportional feedback stabilization of a class of delayed neural fields is input-to-state stable (ISS) for sufficiently high gain, subject to the existence of an equilibrium point for the closed-loop system. In the present paper, we show that a sufficient condition for such an equilibrium to exist is that the activation functions are bounded.

In this paper we develop a boundary state feedback control law for a traffic flow network system in its most fundamental form: one incoming and one outgoing road connected by a junction. The macroscopic traffic dynamics on each road segment are governed by Aw-Rascle-Zhang (ARZ) model, consisting of second-order nonlinear partial differential equations (PDEs) for traffic density and velocity. Different equilibrium road conditions are considered for the connected segments. For stabilization of the stop-and-go traffic congestion on the two roads, we consider a ramp metering located at the connecting junction. The traffic flow rate entering from the on-ramp to the mainline junction is actuated. The objective is to simultaneously stabilize the upstream and downstream traffic to a given spatially-uniform constant steady-state. We design a full state feedback control law for this under-actuated network of two systems of two hetero-directional linear first-order hyperbolic PDEs interconnected through the boundary condition (junction). The exponential stability is validated by numerical simulation.

We consider the problem of output feedback regulationfor a linear first-order hyperbolic system with collocatedinput and output in presence of a general class of disturbancesand noise. The proposed control law is designed through abackstepping approach incorporating an integral action. Toensure robustness to delays, the controller only cancels partof the boundary reflection by means of a tunable parameter.This also enables a trade-off between disturbance and noisesensitivity.We show that the boundary condition of the obtainedtarget system can be transformed into a Neutral DifferentialEquation (NDE) and that this latter system is Input-to-StateStable (ISS). This proves the boundedness of the controlledoutput for the target system. This extends previous worksconsidering an integral action for this kind of system [16], andconstitutes an important step towards practical implementationof such controllers. Applications and practical considerations,in particular regarding the system's sensitivity functions arederived in a companion paper.

We detail in this article the necessity of a change of paradigm for the delay-robust control of systems composed of two linear first order hyperbolic equations. One must go back to the classical trade-off between convergence rate and delay-robustness. More precisely, we prove that, for systems with strong reflections, canceling the reflection at the actuated boundary will yield zero delay-robustness. Indeed, for such systems, using a backstepping-controller, the corresponding target system should preserve a small amount of this reflection to ensure robustness to a small delay in the loop. This implies, in some cases, giving up finite time convergence.

We solve the problem of stabilization of a class of linear first-order hyperbolic systems featuring n rightward convecting transport PDEs and m leftward convecting transport PDEs. Using the backstepping approach yields solutions to stabilization in minimal time and observer based output feedback.