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For the class of nonlinear input-affine systems with polynomial dynamics, we consider the problem of designing an input-to-state stabilizing controller with respect to typical exogenous signals in a feedback control system, such as actuator and process disturbances. We address this problem in a data-based setting when we cannot avail ourselves of the dynamics of the actual system, but only of data generated by it under unknown bounded noise. For all dynamics consistent with data, we derive sum-of-squares programs to design an input-to-state stabilizing controller, an input-to-state Lyapunov function and the corresponding comparison functions. This numerical design for input-to-state stabilization seems to be relevant not only in the considered data-based setting, but also in a model-based setting. Illustration of feasibility of the provided sum-of-squares programs is provided on a numerical example.

We consider the problem of designing a controller for an unknown bilinear system using only noisy input-states data points generated by it. The controller should achieve regulation to a given state setpoint and provide a guaranteed basin of attraction. Determining the equilibrium input to achieve that setpoint is not trivial in a data-based setting and we propose the design of a controller in two scenarios. The design takes the form of linear matrix inequalities and is validated numerically for a Cuk converter.

We consider the problem of designing a state-feedback controller for a linear system, based only on noisy input-state data. We focus on input-state data corrupted by measurement errors, which, albeit less investigated, are as relevant as process disturbances in applications. For energy and instantaneous bounds on these measurement errors, we derive linear matrix inequalities for controller design where the one for the energy bound is equivalent to robust stabilization of all systems consistent with the noisy data points via a common Lyapunov function.

We consider the problem of synthesizing a dynamic output-feedback controller for a linear system, using solely input-output data corrupted by measurement noise. To handle input-output data, an auxiliary representation of the original system is introduced. By exploiting the structure of the auxiliary system, we design a controller that robustly stabilizes all possible systems consistent with data. Notably, we also provide a novel solution to extend the results to generic multi-input multi-output systems. The findings are illustrated by numerical examples.

We consider noisy input/state data collected from an experiment on a polynomial input-affine nonlinear system. Motivated by event-triggered control, we provide data-based conditions for input-to-state stability with respect to measurement errors. Such conditions, which take into account all dynamics consistent with data, lead to the design of a feedback controller, an ISS Lyapunov function, and comparison functions ensuring ISS with respect to measurement errors. When solved alternately for two subsets of the decision variables, these conditions become a convex sum-of-squares program. Feasibility of the program is illustrated with a numerical example., Comment: Submitted for peer review on 31 March 2023. To appear in the Proceedings of the 62nd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 13-15 December 2023, Singapore

We consider the problem of designing an invariant set using only a finite set of input-state data collected from an unknown polynomial system in continuous time. We consider noisy data, i.e., corrupted by an unknown-but-bounded disturbance. We derive a data-dependent sum-of-squares program that enforces invariance of a set and also optimizes the size of the invariant set while keeping it within a set of user-defined safety constraints; the solution of this program directly provides a polynomial invariant set and a state-feedback controller. We numerically test the design on a system of two platooning cars.

In an open-loop experiment, an input sequence is applied to an unknown linear time-invariant system (in continuous or discrete time) affected also by an unknown-but-bounded disturbance sequence (with an energy or instantaneous bound); the corresponding state sequence is measured. The goal is to design directly from the input and state sequences a controller that enforces a certain performance specification on the transient behaviour of the unknown system. The performance specification is expressed through a subset of the complex plane where closed-loop eigenvalues need to belong, a so called LMI region. For this control design problem, we provide here convex programs to enforce the performance specification from data in the form of linear matrix inequalities (LMI). For generic LMI regions, these are sufficient conditions to assign the eigenvalues within the LMI region for all possible dynamics consistent with data, and become necessary and sufficient conditions for special LMI regions. In this way, we extend classical model-based conditions from a seminal work in the literature to the setting of data-driven control from noisy data. Through two numerical examples, we investigate how these data-based conditions compare with each other.

We address the problem of designing a stabilizing closed-loop control law directly from input and state measurements collected in an open-loop experiment. In the presence of noise in data, we have that a set of dynamics could have generated the collected data and we need the designed controller to stabilize such set of data-consistent dynamics robustly. For this problem of data-driven control with noisy data, we advocate the use of a popular tool from robust control, Petersen's lemma. In the cases of data generated by linear and polynomial systems, we conveniently express the uncertainty captured in the set of data-consistent dynamics through a matrix ellipsoid, and we show that a specific form of this matrix ellipsoid makes it possible to apply Petersen's lemma to all of the mentioned cases. In this way, we obtain necessary and sufficient conditions for data-driven stabilization of linear systems through a linear matrix inequality. The matrix ellipsoid representation enables insights and interpretations of the designed control laws. In the same way, we also obtain sufficient conditions for data-driven stabilization of polynomial systems through (convex) sum-of-squares programs. The findings are illustrated numerically.

In data-driven control, a central question is how to handle noisy data. In this work, we consider the problem of designing a stabilizing controller for an unknown linear system using only a finite set of noisy data collected from the system. For this problem, many recent works have considered a disturbance model based on energy-type bounds. Here, we consider an alternative more natural model where the disturbance obeys instantaneous bounds. In this case, the existing approaches, which would convert instantaneous bounds into energy-type bounds, can be overly conservative. In contrast, without any conversion step, simple arguments based on the S-procedure lead to a very effective controller design through a convex program. Specifically, the feasible set of the latter design problem is always larger, and the set of system matrices consistent with data is always smaller and decreases significantly with the number of data points. These findings and some computational aspects are examined in a number of numerical examples.

In this paper we present a hybrid feedback approach to solve the navigation problem of a point mass in the n-dimensional space containing an arbitrary number of ellipsoidal shape obstacles. The proposed hybrid control algorithm guarantees both global asymptotic stabilization to a reference and avoidance of the obstacles. The intuitive idea of the proposed hybrid feedback is to switch between two modes of control: stabilization and avoidance. The geometric construction of the flow and jump sets of the proposed hybrid controller, exploiting hysteresis regions, guarantees Zeno-free switching between the stabilization and the avoidance modes. Simulation results illustrate the performance of the proposed hybrid control approach for 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional scenarios.

In this work we formulate the satisfaction of a (syntactically co-safe) linear temporal logic specification on a physical plant through a recent hybrid dynamical systems formalism. In order to solve this problem, we introduce an extension to such a hybrid system framework of the so-called eventuality property, which matches suitably the condition for the satisfaction of such a temporal logic specification. The eventuality property can be established through barrier certificates, which we derive for the considered hybrid system framework. Using a hybrid barrier certificate, we propose a solution to the original problem. Simulations illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

In this work we formulate the problem of satisfying a linear temporal logic formula on a linear plant with output feedback, through a recent hybrid systems formalism. We relate this problem to the notion of recurrence introduced for the considered formalism, and we then extend Lyapunov-like conditions for recurrence of an open, unbounded set. One of the proposed relaxed conditions allows certifying recurrence of a suitable set, and this guarantees that the high-level evolution of the plant satisfies the formula, without relying on discretizations of the plant. Simulations illustrate the proposed approach., Comment: To appear in IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control

For an unknown linear system, starting from noisy open-loop input-state data collected during a finite-length experiment, we directly design a linear feedback controller that guarantees robust invariance of a given polyhedral set of the state in the presence of disturbances. The main result is a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of such a controller, and amounts to the solution of a linear program. The benefits of large and rich data sets for the solution of the problem are discussed. A numerical example about a simplified platoon of two vehicles illustrates the method.

Motivated by the goal of having a building block in the direct design of data-driven controllers for nonlinear systems, we show how, for an unknown discrete-time bilinear system, the data collected in an offline open-loop experiment enable us to design a feedback controller and provide a guaranteed under-approximation of its basin of attraction. Both can be obtained by solving a linear matrix inequality for a fixed scalar parameter, and possibly iterating on different values of that parameter. The results of this data-based approach are compared with the ideal case when the model is known perfectly.

For a discrete-time linear system, we use data from a single open-loop experiment to design directly a feedback controller enforcing that a given (polyhedral) set of the state is invariant and given (polyhedral) constraints on the control are satisfied. By building on classical results from model-based set invariance and a fundamental result from Willems et al., the controller designed from data has the following desirable features. The satisfaction of the above properties is guaranteed only from data, it can be assessed by solving a numerically-efficient linear program, and, under a certain rank condition, a data-based solution is feasible if and only if a model-based solution is feasible.

For a vehicle moving in an $n$-dimensional Euclidean space, we present a construction of a hybrid feedback that guarantees both global asymptotic stabilization of a reference position and avoidance of an obstacle corresponding to a bounded spherical region. The proposed hybrid control algorithm switches between two modes of operation: stabilization (motion-to-goal) and avoidance (boundary-following). The geometric construction of the flow and jump sets of the hybrid controller, exploiting a hysteresis region, guarantees robust switching (chattering-free) between the stabilization and avoidance modes. Simulation results illustrate the performance of the proposed hybrid control approach for a 3-dimensional scenario., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, conference

We propose a model for representing a point mass subject to Coulomb friction in feedback with a PID controller, based on a differential inclusion comprising all the possible magnitudes of static friction during the stick phase. For this model we study the set of all equilibria and we establish its global asymptotic stability using a discontinuous Lyapunov-like function, and a suitable LaSalle's invariance principle. We finally use well-posedness of the proposed model to establish useful robustness results, including an ISS property from a suitable input in a perturbed context. Simulation results are also given to illustrate our statements., Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures

We study the existence of asymptotically stable periodic trajectories induced by reset feedback. The analysis is developed for a planar system. Casting the problem into the hybrid setting, we show that a periodic orbit arises from the balance between the energy dissipated during flows and the energy restored by resets, at jumps. The stability of the periodic orbit is studied with hybrid Lyapunov tools. The satisfaction of the so-called hybrid basic conditions ensures the robustness of the asymptotic stability. Extensions of the approach to more general mechanical systems are discussed., Comment: 7 pages, 16 figures