Feedforward Variable Structural Proportional-Integral-Derivative for Temperature Control of Polymerase Chain Reaction

To track the rapidly changing temperature profiles of thermal cycling of polymerase chain reaction （PCR） accurately, an innovative feedforward variable structural proportional-integral-derivative （FVSPID） controller was developed. Based on the step response test data of the heat block, a reduced first order model was estabfished at different operating points. Based on the reduced model, the FVSPID controller combined a feedforward path with the variable structural proportional-integral-derivative （PID） control. The modified feedforward action provided directly the optimal predictive power for the desired setpoint to speed up the dynamic response. To cooperate with the feedforward action, a variable structural PID was applied, where the P mode was used in the case of the largest errors to speed up response, whereas the PD mode was used in the case of larger errors to suppress overshoot, and finally the PID mode was applied for small error conditions to eliminate the steady state offset. Experimental results illustrated that compared to the conventional PID controller, the FVSPID controller can not only reduce the time taken to complete a standard PCR protocol, but also improve the accuracy of gene amplification.

Theoretical and experimental investigations on an X-shaped vibration isolator with active controlled variable stiffness

A novel X-shaped variable stiffness vibration isolator(X-VSVI)is proposed.The Runge-Kutta method,harmonic balance method,and wavelet transform spectra are introduced to evaluate the performance of the X-VSVI under various excitations.The layer number,the installation angle of the X-shaped structure,the stiffness,and the active control parameters are systematically analyzed.In addition,a prototype of the X-VSVI is manufactured,and vibration tests are carried out.The results show that the proposed X-VSVI has a superior adaptability to that of a traditional X-shaped mechanism,and shows excellent vibration isolation performance in response to different amplitudes and forms of excitations.Moreover,the vibration isolation efficiency of the device can be improved by appropriate adjustment of parameters.

Fuzzy variable structure delay control algorithms and their applications to AQM

This paper analyzes the fuzzy variable structure control algorithms for delay systems and describes the compensation mechanism of the integral factor to the effect of the delay. Based on the linearized model of the congestion-avoidance flow-control mode of transmission control protocol (TCP), we present delay control algorithms for active queue management (AQM) and discuss the parameter tuning of the algorithms. The NS (network simulator) simulation results show that the proposed control scheme for the nonlinear TCP/AQM model has good performance and robustness with respect to the uncertainties of the round-trip time (RTT) and the number of active TCP sessions. Compared to other similar schemes, our algorithms perform better in terms of packet loss ratio, throughput and butter fluctuation.

Variable Structure Proportional Navigation for Homing Missile

The purpose of this paper is to design control loop and guidance loop for the homing missile, to prove that the modified variable structure proportional navigation (VSPN) can be used in passive homing guidance system, and to compare the VSPN with the proportional navigation (PN). Angular rate and linear acceleration are fed back to improve the stability and robust of autopilot, VSPN and PN are compared in mathematics simulation of homing missile in attacking tanks and helicopters. The damp and the stability of the missile body are increased. The VSPN cuts down the overload of guidance phase dramatically, makes the ballistic trajectory straighter than PN and leads to smaller missdistance. The VSPN can be used for passive homing guidance system, and is especially suitable for attacking helicopter.

Model Reference Variable Structure Autopilot Design for Homing Missile

To design the control system for some homing missile so that the autopilot can transfer guidance command correctly and be robust to disturbances, such as the measurement noises and parameter variation caused by areodynamic floating. The model reference adaptive control was combined with the variable structure control to design a model reference variable structure (MRVS) control system whose control structure is simple and can be realized easily. The simulation results indicate that MRVS can complete the task of transferring guidance command and suppress the distrubances effectively.

ROBUST STABILIZATING FOR A OLASS OF UNOERTAIN NONLINEAR INTEROONNECTED SYSTEMS USING VARIABLE STRUCTURE CONTROL

The robust stabilizating control problem for a class of uncertain nonlinear large-scale systems is discussed. Based on the theory of both input/output (I/O) linearization and decentralized variable structure control (VSC),two-level and decentralized variable structure control laws for this kind of systems are presented respectively,which achieve asymptotically stabilization despite the uncertainties and disturbances. At last,sirnulation of the disturbed two-pendulum system is given to illustrate the feasibility of proposed technique.

Head Pursuit Variable Structure Guidance Law for Three-dimensional Space Interception

This article aims to develop a head pursuit （HP） guidance law for three-dimensional hypervelocity interception, so that the effect of the perturbation induced by seeker detection can be reduced. On the basis of a novel HP three-dimensional guidance model, a nonlinear variable structure guidance law is presented by using Lyapunov stability theory. The guidance law positions the interceptor ahead of the target on its tlight trajectory, and the speed of the interceptor is required to be lower than that of the target, A numerical example of maneuvering ballistic target interception verifies the rightness of the guidance model and the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Variable structure guidance law for attacking surface maneuver targets

The characteristics of surface maneuver targets are analyzed and a 3-D relative motion model for missiles and targets is established. A variable structure guidance law is designed considering the characteristics of targets. In the guidance law, the distance between missiles and targets as well as the missile-target relative velocity are all substituted by estimation values. The estimation errors, the target＇s velocity, and the maneuver acceleration are all treated as bounded disturbance. The guidance law proposed can be implemented conveniently in engineering with little target information. The performance of the guidance system is analyzed theoretically and the numerical simulation result shows the effectiveness of the guidance law.

The 20 April 2013 Lushan, Sichuan, mainshock, and its aftershock sequence: tectonic implications

Using the double-difference relocation algo- rithm, we relocated the 20 April 2013 Lushan, Sichuan, earthquake （Ms 7.0）, and its 4,567 aftershocks recorded during the period between 20 April and May 3, 2013. Our results showed that most aftershocks are relocated between 10 and 20 km depths, but some large aftershocks were relocated around 30 krn depth and small events extended upward near the surface. Vertical cross sections illustrate a shovel-shaped fault plane with a variable dip angle from the southwest to northeast along the fault. Furthermore, the dip angle of the fault plane is smaller around the mainshock than that in the surrounding areas along the fault. These results suggest that it may be easy to generate the strong earthquake in the place having a small dip angle of the fault, which is somewhat similar to the genesis of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. The Lushan mainshock is underlain by the seismically anomalous layers with low-Vp, low-Vs, and high-Poisson＇s ratio anomalies, possibly suggesting that the fluid-filled fractured rock matrices might signifi- cantly reduce the effective normal stress on the fault plane to bring the brittle failure. The seismic gap between Lushan and Wenchuan aftershocks is suspected to be vulnerable to future seismic risks at greater depths, if any.

Adaptive variable structure control based on backstepping for spacecraft with reaction wheels during attitude maneuver

An adaptive variable structure control method based on backstepping is proposed for the attitude maneuver problem of rigid spacecraft with reaction wheel dynamics in the presence of uncertain inertia matrix and external disturbances. The proposed control approach is a combination of the backstepping and the adaptive variable structure control. The cascaded structure of the attitude maneuver control system with reaction wheel dynamics gives the advantage for applying the backstepping method to construct Lyapunov functions. The robust stability to external disturbances and parametric uncertainty is guaranteed by the adaptive variable structure control. To validate the proposed control algorithm, numerical simulations using the proposed approach are performed for the attitude maneuver mission of rigid spacecraft with a configuration consisting of four reaction wheels for actuator and three magnetorquers for momentum unloading. Simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm.

Approximation law for discrete-time variable structure control systems

Two approximation laws of sliding mode for discrete-time variable structure control systems are proposed to overcome the limitations of the exponential approximation law and the variable rate approximation law. By applying the proposed approximation laws of sliding mode to discrete-time variable structure control systems, the stability of origin can be guaranteed, and the chattering along the switching surface caused by discrete-time variable structure control can be restrained effectively. In designing of approximation laws, the problem that the system control input is restricted is also considered, which is very important in practical systems. Finally a simulation example shows the effectiveness of the two approximation laws proposed.

Adaptive Variable Structure Control of MIMO Nonlinear Systems with Time-varying Delays and Unknown Dead-zones

In this paper, adaptive variable structure neural control is presented for a class of uncertain multi-input multi-output （MIMO） nonlinear systems with state time-varying delays and unknown nonlinear dead-zones. The unknown time-varying delay uncer- tainties are compensated for using appropriate Lyapunov-Krasovskii functionals in the design. The approach removes the assumption of linear function outside the deadband without necessarily constructing a dead-zone inverse as an added contribution. By utilizing the integral-type Lyapunov function and introducing an adaptive compensation term for the upper bound of the residual and optimal approximation error as well as the dead-zone disturbance, the closed-loop control system is proved to be semi-globally uniformly ultimately bounded. In addition, a modified adaptive control algorithm is given in order to avoid the high-frequency chattering phenomenon. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach.

Sliding Mode Variable Structure Control for Visual Servoing System

A visual servoing tracking controller is proposed based on the sliding mode control theory in order to achieve strong robustness against parameter variations and external disturbances. A sliding plane with time delay compensation is presented by the pre-estimate of states. To reduce the chattering of the sliding mode controller, a modified exponential reaching law and hyperbolic tangent function are applied to the design of visual controller and robot joint controller. Simulation results show that the visual servoing control scheme is robust and has good tracking performance.

Compensation for secondary uncertainty in electro-hydraulic servo system by gain adaptive sliding mode variable structure control

Based on consideration of the differential relations between the immeasurable variables and measurable variables in electro-hydraulic servo system,adaptive dynamic recurrent fuzzy neural networks(ADRFNNs) were employed to identify the primary uncertainty and the mathematic model of the system was turned into an equivalent linear model with terms of secondary uncertainty.At the same time,gain adaptive sliding mode variable structure control(GASMVSC) was employed to synthesize the control effort.The results show that the unrealization problem caused by some system's immeasurable state variables in traditional fuzzy neural networks(TFNN) taking all state variables as its inputs is overcome.On the other hand,the identification by the ADRFNNs online with high accuracy and the adaptive function of the correction term's gain in the GASMVSC make the system possess strong robustness and improved steady accuracy,and the chattering phenomenon of the control effort is also suppressed effectively.

Optimal variable structure control with sliding modes for unstable processes

In this work,a variable structure control(VSC)technique is proposed to achieve satisfactory robustness for unstable processes.Optimal values of unknown parameters of VSC are obtained using Whale optimization algorithm which was recently reported in literature.Stability analysis has been done to verify the suitability of the proposed structure for industrial processes.The proposed control strategy is applied to three different types of unstable processes including non-minimum phase and nonlinear systems.A comparative study ensures that the proposed scheme gives superior performance over the recently reported VSC system.Furthermore,the proposed method gives satisfactory results for a cart inverted pendulum system in the presence of external disturbance and noise.

An Approach to Polynomial NARX/NARMAX Systems Identification in a Closed-loop with Variable Structure Control

Many physical processes have nonlinear behavior which can be well represented by a polynomial NARX or NARMAX model. The identification of such models has been widely explored in literature. The majority of these approaches are for the open-loop identification. However, for reasons such as safety and production restrictions, open-loop identification cannot always be done. In such cases, closed-loop identification is necessary. This paper presents a two-step approach to closed-loop identification of the polynomial NARX/NARMAX systems with variable structure control （VSC）. First, a genetic algorithm （GA） is used to maximize the similarity of VSC signal to white noise by tuning the switching function parameters. Second, the system is simulated again and its parameters are estimated by an algorithm of the least square （LS） family. Finally, simulation examples are given to show the validity of the proposed approach.

Variable structure control with sliding mode prediction for discrete-time nonlinear systems

A new variable structure control algorithm based on sliding mode prediction for a class of discrete-time nonlinear systems is presented. By employing a special model to predict future sliding mode value, and combining feedback correction and receding horizon optimization methods which are extensively applied on predictive control strategy, a discrete-time variable structure control law is constructed. The closed-loop systems are proved to have robustness to uncertainties with unspecified boundaries. Numerical simulation and pendulum experiment results illustrate that the closed-loop systems possess desired performance, such as strong robustness, fast convergence and chattering elimination.

ADAPTIVE VARIABLE STRUCTURE CONTROLLERS AND APPLICATION TO ENGINE IDLE SPEED CONTROL SIMULATION

A neural-network-based adaptive variable structure control methodology isproposed for the tracking problem of nonlinear discrete-time input-output systems. The unknowndynamics of the system are approximated via radial basis function neural networks. The control lawis based on sliding modes and simple to implement. The discrete-time adaptive law for tuning theweight of neural networks is presented using the adaptive filtering algorithm with residueupper-bound compensation. The application of the proposed controller to engine idle speed controldesign is discussed. The results indicate the validation and effectiveness of this approach.

Fault detection and accommodation via neural network and variable structure control

This paper proposes a novel idea that classifies faults into two different kinds： serious faults and small faults, and treats them with different strategies respectively. A kind of artificial neural network （ANN） is proposed for detecting serious faults, and variable structure （VS） model-following control is constructed for accommodating small faults. The proposed framework takes both advantages of qualitative way and quantitative way of fault detection and accommodation. Moreover, the uncertainty case is investigated and the VS controller is modified. Simulation results of a remotely piloted aircraft with control actuator failures illustrate the performance of the developed algorithm.

Application of Road Information in Ground Moving Target Tracking

A new algorithm is developed to achieve accurate state estimation in ground moving target tracking by means of using road information. It is an adaptive variable structure interacting multiple model estimator with dynamic models modification （DMM VS-IMM for short）. Firstly, road information is employed to modify the target dynamic models used by filter, including modification of state transition matrix and process noise. Secondly, road information is applied to update the model set of a VS-IMM estimator. Predicted state estimation and road information are used to locate the target in the road network on which the model set is updated and finally IMM filtering is implemented. As compared with traditional methods, the accuracy of state estimation is improved for target moving not only on a single road, but also through an intersection. Monte Carlo simulation demonstrates the efficiency and robustness of the proposed algorithm with moderate computational loads.