Hierarchical Controller Synthesis Under Linear Temporal Logic Specifications Using Dynamic Quantization

Linear temporal logic(LTL)is an intuitive and expressive language to specify complex control tasks,and how to design an efficient control strategy for LTL specification is still a challenge.In this paper,we implement the dynamic quantization technique to propose a novel hierarchical control strategy for nonlinear control systems under LTL specifications.Based on the regions of interest involved in the LTL formula,an accepting path is derived first to provide a high-level solution for the controller synthesis problem.Second,we develop a dynamic quantization based approach to verify the realization of the accepting path.The realization verification results in the necessity of the controller design and a sequence of quantization regions for the controller design.Third,the techniques of dynamic quantization and abstraction-based control are combined together to establish the local-to-global control strategy.Both abstraction construction and controller design are local and dynamic,thereby resulting in the potential reduction of the computational complexity.Since each quantization region can be considered locally and individually,the proposed hierarchical mechanism is more efficient and can solve much larger problems than many existing methods.Finally,the proposed control strategy is illustrated via two examples from the path planning and tracking problems of mobile robots.

Controllable design of Zn-Ni-P on g-C_3N_4 for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen production

Synthesizing a stable and efficient photocatalyst has been the most important research goal up to now. Owing to the dominant performance of g-C3N4 (graphitized carbonitride), an ordered assemble of a composite photocatalyst, Zn-Ni-P@g-C3N4, was successfully designed and controllably prepared for highly efficient photocatalytic H2 evolution. The electron transport routes were successfully adjusted and the H2 evolution was greatly improved. The maximum amount of H2 evolved reached about 531.2 μmol for 5 h over Zn-Ni-P@g-C3N4 photocatalyst with a molar ratio of Zn to Ni of 1:3 under illumination of 5 W LED white light (wavelength 420 nm). The H2 evolution rate was 54.7 times higher than that over pure g-C3N4. Moreover, no obvious reduction in the photocatalytic activity was observed even after 4 cycles of H2 production for 5 h. This synergistically increased effect was confirmed through the results of characterizations such as XRD, TEM, SEM, XPS, N2 adsorption, UV-vis DRS, transient photocurrent, FT-IR, transient fluorescence, and Mott-Schottky studies. These studies showed that the Zn-Ni-P nanoparticles modified on g-C3N4 provide more active sites and improve the efficiency of photogenerated charge separation. In addition, the possible mechanism of photocatalytic H2 production is proposed.

Robust H_∞ Controller Design for Uncertain Neutral Systems via Dynamic Observer Based Output Feedback

In this paper, the dynamic observer-based controller design for a class of neutral systems with H∞ control is considered. An observer-based output feedback is derived for systems with polytopic parameter uncertainties. This controller assures delay-dependent stabilization and H∞ norm bound attenuation from the disturbance input to the controlled output. Numerical examples are provided for illustration and comparison of the proposed conditions.

Optimal design of dynamic and control performance for planar manipulator

A design and optimization approach of dynamic and control performance for a two-DOF planar manipulator was proposed.After the kinematic and dynamic analysis,several advantages of the mechanism were illustrated,which made it possible to obtain good dynamic and control performances just through mechanism optimization.Based on the idea of design for control(DFC),a novel kind of multi-objective optimization model was proposed.There were three optimization objectives:the index of inertia,the index describing the dynamic coupling effects and the global condition number.Other indexes to characterize the designing requirements such as the velocity of end-effector,the workspace size,and the first mode natural frequency were regarded as the constraints.The cross-section area and length of the linkages were chosen as the design variables.NSGA-II algorithm was introduced to solve this complex multi-objective optimization problem.Additional criteria from engineering experience were incorporated into the selecting of final parameters among the obtained Pareto solution sets.Finally,experiments were performed to validate the linear dynamic structure and control performances of the optimized mechanisms.A new expression for measuring the dynamic coupling degree with clear physical meaning was proposed.The results show that the optimized mechanism has an approximate decoupled dynamics structure,and each active joint can be regarded as a linear SISO system.The control performances of the linear and nonlinear controllers were also compared.It can be concluded that the optimized mechanism can achieve good control performance only using a linear controller.

Design of Retarded Fractional Delay Differential Systems Using the Method of Inequalities

Methods based on numerical optimization are useful and effective in the design of control systems. This paper describes the design of retarded fractional delay differential systems （RFDDSs） by the method of inequalities, in which the design problem is formulated so that it is suitable for solution by numerical methods. Zakian＇s original formulation, which was first proposed in connection with rational systems, is extended to the case of RFDDSs. In making the use of this formulation possible for RFDDSs, the associated stability problems are resolved by using the stability test and the numerical algorithm for computing the abscissa of stability recently developed by the authors. During the design process, the time responses are obtained by a known method for the numerical inversion of Laplace transforms. Two numerical examples are given, where fractional controllers are designed for a time-delay and a heat-conduction plants.

Robust Control Design of Wheeled Inverted Pendulum Assistant Robot

This paper examines the design concept and mobile control strategy of the human assistant robot I-PENTAR(inverted pendulum type assistant robot). The motion equation is derived considering the non-holonomic constraint of the twowheeled mobile robot. Different optimal control approaches are applied to a linearized model of I-PENTAR. These include linear quadratic regulator(LQR), linear quadratic Gaussian control(LQG), H_2 control and H_∞ control. Simulation is performed for all the approaches yielding good performance results.

Reactive dividing wall column for hydrolysis of methyl acetate:Design and control

Reactive distillation and dividing wall column distillation are two kinds of effective separation technologies,and their integrated configuration,reactive dividing wall column(RDWC),presents attractive advantages.In this study,the rigorous simulation of RDWC for methyl acetate hydrolysis is performed,and sensitivity analysis is conducted to obtain the minimum reboiler duty.Then a comparison is made between the conventional process and RDWC process,and it shows that 20.1% energy savings can be achieved by RDWC process.In addition,the dynamic characteristic of RDWC is studied and an effective control strategy is proposed.The simple PI control scheme with three temperature loops can obtain reasonable control performance and maintain products at desired purities.It is proved that this RDWC process is an energy efficiency alternative with good controllability.

Systematic design method for PI controller with Virtual Resistor-based Active Damping of LCL filter

The Virtual Resistor based Active Damping(VR-AD) is widely employed in converters connected to the grid via LCL filters in order to mitigate the inherent resonance of the filters. Nevertheless, in digitally controlled systems, the PWM and the calculating delays modify the system characteristics in terms of frequency and phase, thus destabilizing the system and degrading the VR-AD performances, mainly in low switching frequencies. Moreover, the stability of the system is greatly affected under weak grid operation characterized by large grid impedance variation. This paper solves these problems by proposing a systematic, robust and optimized design procedure of voltage oriented PI control(VOC) with VRAD. The considered design procedure ensures robust control(sufficient stability margins) and high quality of grid current(reduced steady-state error and minimized THD value) despite the negative impact of digital time delay, grid impedance variation and filter parameters change. Simulation and experimental results are presented to show robustness and efficiency of the suggested design procedure.

Randomized Algorithms for Probabilistic Optimal Robust Performance Controller Design

Polynomial-time randomized algorithms were constructed to approximately solve optimal robust performance controller design problems in probabilistic sense and the rigorous mathematical justification of the approach was given. The randomized algorithms here were based on a property from statistical learning theory known as (uniform) convergence of empirical means (UCEM). It is argued that in order to assess the performance of a controller as the plant varies over a pre-specified family, it is better to use the average performance of the controller as the objective function to be optimized, rather than its worst-case performance. The approach is illustrated to be efficient through an example.

CAutoCSD-Evolutionary Search and Optimisation Enabled Computer Automated Control System Design

This paper attempts to set a unified scene for various linear time-invariant (LTI) control system design schemes, by transforming the existing concept of “computer-aided control system design” (CACSD) to novel “computer-automated control system design” (CAutoCSD). The first step towards this goal is to accommodate, under practical constraints, various design objectives that are desirable in both time and frequency domains. Such performance-prioritised unification is aimed at relieving practising engineers from having to select a particular control scheme and from sacrificing certain performance goals resulting from pre-commitment to such schemes. With recent progress in evolutionary computing based extra-numeric, multi-criterion search and optimisation techniques, such unification of LTI control schemes becomes feasible, analytical and practical, and the resultant designs can be creative. The techniques developed are applied to, and illustrated by, three design problems. The unified approach automatically provides an integrator for zero-steady state error in velocity control of a DC motor, and meets multiple objectives in the design of an LTI controller for a non-minimum phase plant and offers a high-performance LTI controller network for a non-linear chemical process.

Controller design of uncertain nonlinear systems based on T-S fuzzy model

A robust control for uncertain nonlinear systems based on T-S fuzzy model is discussed in this paper. First, a T-S fuzzy system is adopted to model the uncertain nonlinear systems. Then, for the system with input variables adopting standard fuzzy partitions, the efficient maximal overlapped-rules group （EMORG） is presented, and a new sufficient condition to check the stability of T-S fuzzy system with uncertainty is derived, which is expressed in terms of Linear Matrix Inequalities. The derived stability condition, which only requires a local common positive definite matrix in each EMORG, can reduce the conservatism and difficulty in existing stability conditions. Finally, a simulation example shows the proposed approach is effective.

Control system design of hybrid fuel cell city bus

This paper introduced the design of the hybrid powertrain of the Fuel Cell City Bus demonstrated in 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The configuration of the hybrid fuel cell powertrain was introduced. The safety of hydrogen storage and delivery system, the hydrogen leakage alarm system were developed. The real-time distributed control and diagnosis system based on the Time Trigger Controller Area Network （TTCAN） with 10 ms basic control period was developed. The concept and implementation of processor （or controller） monitor and process （or task） monitor technique based on the TYCAN were applied in this paper. The fault tolerant control algorithm of the fuel cell engine and the battery man- agement system were considered. The demonstration experience verified that the fault tolerant control was very important for the fuel cell city bus.

MODELING, VALIDATION AND OPTIMAL DESIGN OF THE CLAMPING FORCE CONTROL VALVE USED IN CONTINUOUSLY VARIABLE TRANSMISSION

Associated dynamic performance of the clamping force control valve used in continuously variable transmission （CVT） is optimized. Firstly, the structure and working principle of the valve are analyzed, and then a dynamic model is set up by means of mechanism analysis. For the purpose of checking the validity of the modeling method, a prototype workpiece of the valve is manufactured for comparison test, and its simulation result follows the experimental result quite well. An associated performance index is founded considering the response time, overshoot and saving energy, and five structural parameters are selected to adjust for deriving the optimal associated performance index. The optimization problem is solved by the genetic algorithm （GA） with necessary constraints. Finally, the properties of the optimized valve are compared with those of the prototype workpiece, and the results prove that the dynamic performance indexes of the optimized valve are much better than those of the prototype workpiece.

SIMULATION IN THERMAL DESIGN FOR ELECTRONIC CONTROL UNIT OF ELECTRONIC UNIT PUMP

The high working junction temperature of power component is the most common reason of its failure. So the thermal design is of vital importance in electronic control unit （ECU） design. By means of circuit simulation, the thermal design of ECU for electronic unit pump （EUP） fuel system is applied. The power dissipation model of each power component in the ECU is created and simulated. According to the analyses of simulation results, the factors which affect the power dissipation of components are analyzed. Then the ways for reducing the power dissipation of power components are carried out. The power dissipation of power components at different engine state is calculated and analyzed. The maximal power dissipation of each power component in all possible engine state is also carried out based on these simulations. A cooling system is designed based on these studies. The tests show that the maximum total power dissipation of ECU drops from 43.2 W to 33.84 W after these simulations and optimizations. These applications of simulations in thermal design of ECU can greatly increase the quality of the design, save the design cost and shorten design time

The design of multi-function nursing wheelchair

In order to reduce nursing intensity and improve freedom of the elderly and the disabled, a multi-function nursing wheelchair which can switch chair to bed and realize many kinds of posture transformation is designed. This paper introduces the mechanical structure design （position adjustment mechanism and variable wheelbase mechanism） and control design of posture transformation unit of multifunctional nursing wheelchair.

Systematic Logic Controller Design as Sequential Function Chart Starting from Informal Specifications

Today＇s automation industry is driven by the need for an increased productivity, higher flexibility, and higher individuality, and characterized by tailor-made and more complex control solutions. In the processing industry, logic controller design is often a manual, experience-based, and thus an error-prone procedure. Typically, the specifications are given by a set of informal requirements and a technical flowchart and both are used to be directly translated into the control code. This paper proposes a method in which the control program is constructed as a sequential function chart （SFC） by transforming the requirements via clearly defined intermediate formats. For the purpose of analysis, the resulting SFC can be translated algorithmically into timed automata. A rigorous verification can be used to determine whether all specifications are satisfied if a formal model of the plant is available which is then composed with the automata model of the logic controller （LC）.

Method of Designing Missile Controller Based on Multi-Objective Opti mization

A method of designing robust controller based on genetic algorithm is presented in order to overcome the drawback of manual modification and trial in designing the control system of missile. Specification functions which reflect the dynamic performance in time domain and robustness in frequency domain are presented, then dynamic/static performance, control cost and robust stability are incorporated into a multi-objective optimization problem. Genetic algorithm is used to solve the problem and achieve the optimal controller directly. Simulation results show that the controller provides a good stability and offers a good dynamic performance in a large flight envelope. The results also validate the effectiveness of the method.

CONVEX CONTROLLER DESIGN APPLIED TO AC INDUCTION MOTOR TO SATISFY MULTIPLE SIMULTANEOUS SPECIFICATIONS

The application of a closed-loop specification oriented feedback control design method, which addresses the design of controllers to satisfy multiple simultaneous conflicting closed-loop performance specifications is presented. The proposed approach is well suited to the design of controllers which must meet a set of conflicting performance specifications. Gain tuning is central to the design process, however, the tuning process is greatly simplified over that presented by the problem of tuning a PID controller for example. The proposed control method is applied to an AC induction motor, with an inner-loop flux vector controller applied to design a position control system. Experimental results verify the effectiveness of this method.

COMPUTER-AIDED DESIGN OF ADAPTIVE PULSED ARC WELDING OF ROOT WELDS BY MELTING ELECTRODE

The purpose of computer-aided design of new adaptive pulsed arc technologies of welding is: to de- sign optimum algorithms of pulsed control over main energy parameters of welding.It permits:to in- crease welding productivity, to stabilize the welding regime, to control weld formation,taking into ac- count its spatial position, to proveal specie strength of the welded and coatings. Computer- aided design reduces the time of development of new pulsed arc technology:provides the optimization of technological referes according to the operating conditions of welded joints,the prediction of the ser- vice life of the welds.The developed methodology of computer-aided design of advanced technologies, models, original software, adaptive algorithms of pulsed control, and spend equipment permits to regulate penetration,the weld shape, the sizes of heat - affected zone; to predict sired properties and quality of welded joints.

Control System Design and Validation for Visual Based Indoor Inspection Helicopter

This paper is on control system design for visual based indoor inspection by the model helicopters. For the indoor inspection system for large structures, there are some cases where it is difficult for htunans to work with. This paper introduces indoor inspection helicopter system with only inspection camera and prism for position sensing as payload. The control system is designed to help the operator of the inspection system to control the helicopter to designated position without much practice. The cases of the control by experienced and novice operators are compared and results show that the system has feasibility for indoor inspection system to be used by any kind of users.