Lower Bounds for the Stability Degree of Periodic Solutions in Forced Nonlinear Systems.

In this paper the problem of local exponential stability of periodic orbits in a general class of forced nonlinear systems is considered. Some lower bounds for the degree of local exponential stability of a given periodic solution are provided by mixing results concerning the analysis of linear time-varying systems and the real parametric stability margin of uncertain linear timeinvariant systems. Although conservative with respect to the degree of stability obtainable via the Floquet-based approach, such lower bounds can be efficiently computed also in cases where the periodic solution is not exactly known and the design of a controller ensuring a satisfactory transient behavior is the main concern. The main features of the developed approach are illustrated via two application examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]