A Tutorial on Quantized Feedback Control

In this tutorial paper, we explore the field of quantized feedback control, which has gained significant attention due to the growing prevalence of networked control systems. These systems require the transmission of feedback information, such as measurements and control signals, over digital networks, presenting novel challenges in estimation and control design. Our examination encompasses various topics, including the minimal information needed for effective feedback control, the design of quantizers, strategies for quantized control design and estimation,achieving consensus control with quantized data, and the pursuit of high-precision tracking using quantized measurements.

Recent Progress in Reinforcement Learning and Adaptive Dynamic Programming for Advanced Control Applications

Reinforcement learning(RL) has roots in dynamic programming and it is called adaptive/approximate dynamic programming(ADP) within the control community. This paper reviews recent developments in ADP along with RL and its applications to various advanced control fields. First, the background of the development of ADP is described, emphasizing the significance of regulation and tracking control problems. Some effective offline and online algorithms for ADP/adaptive critic control are displayed, where the main results towards discrete-time systems and continuous-time systems are surveyed, respectively.Then, the research progress on adaptive critic control based on the event-triggered framework and under uncertain environment is discussed, respectively, where event-based design, robust stabilization, and game design are reviewed. Moreover, the extensions of ADP for addressing control problems under complex environment attract enormous attention. The ADP architecture is revisited under the perspective of data-driven and RL frameworks,showing how they promote ADP formulation significantly.Finally, several typical control applications with respect to RL and ADP are summarized, particularly in the fields of wastewater treatment processes and power systems, followed by some general prospects for future research. Overall, the comprehensive survey on ADP and RL for advanced control applications has d emonstrated its remarkable potential within the artificial intelligence era. In addition, it also plays a vital role in promoting environmental protection and industrial intelligence.

Advanced Functional Electromagnetic Shielding Materials:A Review Based on Micro‑Nano Structure Interface Control of Biomass Cell Walls

Research efforts on electromagnetic interference(EMI)shielding materials have begun to converge on green and sustainable biomass materials.These materials offer numerous advantages such as being lightweight,porous,and hierarchical.Due to their porous nature,interfacial compatibility,and electrical conductivity,biomass materials hold significant potential as EMI shielding materials.Despite concerted efforts on the EMI shielding of biomass materials have been reported,this research area is still relatively new compared to traditional EMI shielding materials.In particular,a more comprehensive study and summary of the factors influencing biomass EMI shielding materials including the pore structure adjustment,preparation process,and micro-control would be valuable.The preparation methods and characteristics of wood,bamboo,cellulose and lignin in EMI shielding field are critically discussed in this paper,and similar biomass EMI materials are summarized and analyzed.The composite methods and fillers of various biomass materials were reviewed.this paper also highlights the mechanism of EMI shielding as well as existing prospects and challenges for development trends in this field.

Passive activity enhances residual control ability in patients with complete spinal cord injury

Patients with complete spinal cord injury retain the potential for volitional muscle activity in muscles located below the spinal injury level.However,because of prolonged inactivity,initial attempts to activate these muscles may not effectively engage any of the remaining neurons in the descending pathway.A previous study unexpectedly found that a brief clinical round of passive activity significantly increased volitional muscle activation,as measured by surface electromyography.In this study,we further explored the effect of passive activity on surface electromyographic signals during volitional control tasks among individuals with complete spinal cord injury.Eleven patients with chronic complete thoracic spinal cord injury were recruited.Surface electromyography data from eight major leg muscles were acquired and compared before and after the passive activity protocol.The results indicated that the passive activity led to an increased number of activated volitional muscles and an increased frequency of activation.Although the cumulative root mean square of surface electromyography amplitude for volitional control of movement showed a slight increase after passive activity,the difference was not statistically significant.These findings suggest that brief passive activity may enhance the ability to initiate volitional muscle activity during surface electromyography tasks and underscore the potential of passive activity for improving residual motor control among patients with motor complete spinal cord injury.

Finite-time Prescribed Performance Time-Varying Formation Control for Second-Order Multi-Agent Systems With Non-Strict Feedback Based on a Neural Network Observer

This paper studies the problem of time-varying formation control with finite-time prescribed performance for nonstrict feedback second-order multi-agent systems with unmeasured states and unknown nonlinearities.To eliminate nonlinearities,neural networks are applied to approximate the inherent dynamics of the system.In addition,due to the limitations of the actual working conditions,each follower agent can only obtain the locally measurable partial state information of the leader agent.To address this problem,a neural network state observer based on the leader state information is designed.Then,a finite-time prescribed performance adaptive output feedback control strategy is proposed by restricting the sliding mode surface to a prescribed region,which ensures that the closed-loop system has practical finite-time stability and that formation errors of the multi-agent systems converge to the prescribed performance bound in finite time.Finally,a numerical simulation is provided to demonstrate the practicality and effectiveness of the developed algorithm.

Risk-Informed Model-Free Safe Control of Linear Parameter-Varying Systems

This paper presents a risk-informed data-driven safe control design approach for a class of stochastic uncertain nonlinear discrete-time systems.The nonlinear system is modeled using linear parameter-varying(LPV)systems.A model-based probabilistic safe controller is first designed to guarantee probabilisticλ-contractivity(i.e.,stability and invariance)of the LPV system with respect to a given polyhedral safe set.To obviate the requirement of knowing the LPV system model and to bypass identifying its open-loop model,its closed-loop data-based representation is provided in terms of state and scheduling data as well as a decision variable.It is shown that the variance of the closedloop system,as well as the probability of safety satisfaction,depends on the decision variable and the noise covariance.A minimum-variance direct data-driven gain-scheduling safe control design approach is presented next by designing the decision variable such that all possible closed-loop system realizations satisfy safety with the highest confidence level.This minimum-variance approach is a control-oriented learning method since it minimizes the variance of the state of the closed-loop system with respect to the safe set,and thus minimizes the risk of safety violation.Unlike the certainty-equivalent approach that results in a risk-neutral control design,the minimum-variance method leads to a risk-averse control design.It is shown that the presented direct risk-averse learning approach requires weaker data richness conditions than existing indirect learning methods based on system identification and can lead to a lower risk of safety violation.Two simulation examples along with an experimental validation on an autonomous vehicle are provided to show the effectiveness of the presented approach.

Quantization and Event-Triggered Policy Design for Encrypted Networked Control

This paper proposes a novel event-driven encrypted control framework for linear networked control systems(NCSs),which relies on two modified uniform quantization policies,the Paillier cryptosystem,and an event-triggered strategy.Due to the fact that only integers can work in the Pailler cryptosystem,both the real-valued control gain and system state need to be first quantized before encryption.This is dramatically different from the existing quantized control methods,where only the quantization of a single value,e.g.,the control input or the system state,is considered.To handle this issue,static and dynamic quantization policies are presented,which achieve the desired integer conversions and guarantee asymptotic convergence of the quantized system state to the equilibrium.Then,the quantized system state is encrypted and sent to the controller when the triggering condition,specified by a state-based event-triggered strategy,is satisfied.By doing so,not only the security and confidentiality of data transmitted over the communication network are protected,but also the ciphertext expansion phenomenon can be relieved.Additionally,by tactfully designing the quantization sensitivities and triggering error,the proposed event-driven encrypted control framework ensures the asymptotic stability of the overall closedloop system.Finally,a simulation example of the secure motion control for an inverted pendulum cart system is presented to evaluate the effectiveness of the theoretical results.

Practical Prescribed Time Tracking Control With Bounded Time-Varying Gain Under Non-Vanishing Uncertainties

This paper investigates the prescribed-time control(PTC) problem for a class of strict-feedback systems subject to non-vanishing uncertainties. The coexistence of mismatched uncertainties and non-vanishing disturbances makes PTC synthesis nontrivial. In this work, a control method that does not involve infinite time-varying gain is proposed, leading to a practical and global prescribed time tracking control solution for the strict-feedback systems, in spite of both the mismatched and nonvanishing uncertainties. Different from methods based on control switching to avoid the issue of infinite control gain that involves control discontinuity at the switching point, in our method a softening unit is exclusively included to ensure the continuity of the control action. Furthermore, in contrast to most existing prescribed-time control works where the control scheme is only valid on a finite time interval, in this work, the proposed control scheme is valid on the entire time interval. In addition, the prior information on the upper or lower bound of gi is not in need,enlarging the applicability of the proposed method. Both the theoretical analysis and numerical simulation confirm the effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm.

Review of Field Weakening Control Strategies of Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors

Due to high power density,high efficiency,and accurate control performance,permanent magnet synchronous motors(PMSMs)have been widely adopted in equipment manufacturing and energy transformation fields.To expand the speed range under finite DC-bus voltage,extensive research on field weakening(FW)control strategies has been conducted.This paper summarizes the major FW control strategies of PMSMs,which are categorized into calculation-based methods,voltage closed-loop control methods,and model predictive control related methods.The existing strategies are analyzed and compared according to performance,robustness,and execution difficulty,which can facilitate the implementation of FW control.

Command filtered integrated estimation guidance and control for strapdown missiles with circular field of view

In this paper,an integrated estimation guidance and control(IEGC)system is designed based on the command filtered backstepping approach for circular field-of-view(FOV)strapdown missiles.The threedimensional integrated estimation guidance and control nonlinear model with limited actuator deflection angle is established considering the seeker's FOV constraint.The boundary time-varying integral barrier Lyapunov function(IBLF)is employed in backstepping design to constrain the body line-of-sight(BLOS)in IEGC system to fit a circular FOV.Then,the nonlinear adaptive controller is designed to estimate the changing aerodynamic parameters.The generalized extended state observer(GESO)is designed to estimate the acceleration of the maneuvering targets and the unmatched time-varying disturbances for improving tracking accuracy.Furthermore,the command filters are used to solve the"differential expansion"problem during the backstepping design.The Lyapunov theory is used to prove the stability of the overall closed-loop IEGC system.Finally,the simulation results validate the integrated system's effectiveness,achieving high accuracy strikes against maneuvering targets.

Review on grid-forming converter control methods in high-proportion renewable energy power systems

Grid-forming(GFM)converters can provide inertia support for power grids through control technology,stabilize voltage and frequency,and improve system stability,unlike traditional grid-following(GFL)converters.Therefore,in future“double high”power systems,research on the control technology of GFM converters will become an urgent demand.In this paper,we first introduce the basic principle of GFM control and then present five currently used control strategies for GFM converters:droop control,power synchronization control(PSC),virtual synchronous machine control(VSM),direct power control(DPC),and virtual oscillator control(VOC).These five strategies can independently establish voltage phasors to provide inertia to the system.Among these,droop control is the most widely used strategy.PSC and VSM are strategies that simulate the mechanical characteristics of synchronous generators;thus,they are more accurate than droop control.DPC regulates the active power and reactive power directly,with no inner current controller,and VOC is a novel method under study using an oscillator circuit to realize synchronization.Finally,we highlight key technologies and research directions to be addressed in the future.

Unified Control Theory from PID to ACPID

To address the challenge of achieving unified control across diverse nonlinear systems, a comprehensive control theory spanning from PID (Proportional-Integral-Derivative) to ACPID (Auto-Coupling PID) has been proposed. The primary concept is to unify all intricate factors, including internal dynamics and external bounded disturbance, into a single total disturbance. This enables the mapping of various nonlinear systems onto a linear disturbance system. Based on the theory of PID control and the characteristic equation of a critically damping system, Zeng’s stabilization rules (ZSR) and an ACPID control force based on a single speed factor have been designed. ACPID control theory is both simple and practical, with significant scientific significance and application value in the field of control engineering.

Mathematical Modeling and Control Algorithm Development for Bidirectional Power Flow in CCS-CNT System

As the demand for more efficient and adaptable power distribution systems intensifies, especially in rural areas, innovative solutions like the Capacitor-Coupled Substation with a Controllable Network Transformer (CCS-CNT) are becoming increasingly critical. Traditional power distribution networks, often limited by unidirectional flow capabilities and inflexibility, struggle to meet the complex demands of modern energy systems. The CCS-CNT system offers a transformative approach by enabling bidirectional power flow between high-voltage transmission lines and local distribution networks, a feature that is essential for integrating renewable energy sources and ensuring reliable electrification in underserved regions. This paper presents a detailed mathematical representation of power flow within the CCS-CNT system, emphasizing the control of both active and reactive power through the adjustment of voltage levels and phase angles. A control algorithm is developed to dynamically manage power flow, ensuring optimal performance by minimizing losses and maintaining voltage stability across the network. The proposed CCS-CNT system demonstrates significant potential in enhancing the efficiency and reliability of power distribution, making it particularly suited for rural electrification and other applications where traditional methods fall short. The findings underscore the system's capability to adapt to varying operational conditions, offering a robust solution for modern power distribution challenges.

A matrix metalloproteinase-responsive hydrogel system controls angiogenic peptide release for repair of cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury

Vascular endothelial growth factor and its mimic peptide KLTWQELYQLKYKGI(QK)are widely used as the most potent angiogenic factors for the treatment of multiple ischemic diseases.However,conventional topical drug delivery often results in a burst release of the drug,leading to transient retention(inefficacy)and undesirable diffusion(toxicity)in vivo.Therefore,a drug delivery system that responds to changes in the microenvironment of tissue regeneration and controls vascular endothelial growth factor release is crucial to improve the treatment of ischemic stroke.Matrix metalloproteinase-2(MMP-2)is gradually upregulated after cerebral ischemia.Herein,vascular endothelial growth factor mimic peptide QK was self-assembled with MMP-2-cleaved peptide PLGLAG(TIMP)and customizable peptide amphiphilic(PA)molecules to construct nanofiber hydrogel PA-TIMP-QK.PA-TIMP-QK was found to control the delivery of QK by MMP-2 upregulation after cerebral ischemia/reperfusion and had a similar biological activity with vascular endothelial growth factor in vitro.The results indicated that PA-TIMP-QK promoted neuronal survival,restored local blood circulation,reduced blood-brain barrier permeability,and restored motor function.These findings suggest that the self-assembling nanofiber hydrogel PA-TIMP-QK may provide an intelligent drug delivery system that responds to the microenvironment and promotes regeneration and repair after cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury.

Vibration Control of A Flexible Marine Riser System Subject to Input Dead Zone and Extraneous Disturbances

An observer-based adaptive backstepping boundary control is proposed for vibration control of flexible offshore riser systems with unknown nonlinear input dead zone and uncertain environmental disturbances.The control algorithm can update the control law online through real-time data to make the controller adapt to the environment and improve the control precision.Specifically,based on the adaptive backstepping framework,virtual control laws and Lyapunov functions are designed for each subsystem.Three direction interference observers are designed to track the timevarying boundary disturbance.On this basis,the inverse of the dead zone and linear state transformation are used to compensate for the original system and eliminate the adverse effects of the dead zone.In addition,the stability of the closed-loop system is proven by Lyapunov stability theory.All the system states are bounded,and the vibration offset of the riser converges to a small area of the initial position.Finally,four examples of flexible marine risers are simulated in MATLAB to verify the effectiveness of the proposed controller.

An Integrated Control Framework for Torque Vectoring and Active Suspension System

Four-wheel independently driven electric vehicles(FWID-EV)endow a flexible and scalable control framework to improve vehicle performance.This paper integrates the torque vectoring and active suspension system(ASS)to enhance the vehicle’s longitudinal and vertical motion control performance.While the nonlinear characteristic of the tire model leads to a relatively heavier computational burden.To facilitate the controller design and ease the load,a half-vehicle dynamics system is built and simplified to the linear-time-varying(LTV)model.Then a model predictive controller is developed by formulating the objective function by comprehensively considering the safety,energy-saving and comfort requirements.The in-wheel motor efficiency and the power loss of tire slip are treated as optimization indices in this work to reduce energy consumption.Finally,the effectiveness of the proposed controller is verified through the rapid-control-prototype(RCP)test.The results demonstrate the enhancement of the energy-saving as well as comfort on the basis of vehicle stability.

Networked Control Systems:A Survey of Trends and Techniques

Networked control systems are spatially distributed systems in which the communication between sensors, actuators,and controllers occurs through a shared band-limited digital communication network. Several advantages of the network architectures include reduced system wiring, plug and play devices,increased system agility, and ease of system diagnosis and maintenance. Consequently, networked control is the current trend for industrial automation and has ever-increasing applications in a wide range of areas, such as smart grids, manufacturing systems,process control, automobiles, automated highway systems, and unmanned aerial vehicles. The modelling, analysis, and control of networked control systems have received considerable attention in the last two decades. The ‘control over networks’ is one of the key research directions for networked control systems. This paper aims at presenting a survey of trends and techniques in networked control systems from the perspective of ‘control over networks’, providing a snapshot of five control issues: sampled-data control, quantization control, networked control, event-triggered control, and security control. Some challenging issues are suggested to direct the future research.

Modeling and Robust Backstepping Sliding Mode Control with Adaptive RBFNN for a Novel Coaxial Eight-rotor UAV

This paper focuses on the robust attitude control of a novel coaxial eight-rotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) which has higher drive capability as well as greater robustness against disturbances than quad-rotor UAV. The dynamical and kinematical model for the coaxial eight-rotor UAV is developed, which has never been proposed before. A robust backstepping sliding mode controller (BSMC) with adaptive radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) is proposed to control the attitude of the eightrotor UAV in the presence of model uncertainties and external disturbances. The combinative method of backstepping control and sliding mode control has improved robustness and simplified design procedure benefiting from the advantages of both controllers. The adaptive RBFNN as the uncertainty observer can effectively estimate the lumped uncertainties without the knowledge of their bounds for the eight-rotor UAV. Additionally, the adaptive learning algorithm, which can learn the parameters of RBFNN online and compensate the approximation error, is derived using Lyapunov stability theorem. And then the uniformly ultimate stability of the eight-rotor system is proved. Finally, simulation results demonstrate the validity of the proposed robust control method adopted in the novel coaxial eight-rotor UAV in the case of model uncertainties and external disturbances. © 2014 Chinese Association of Automation.

Noise-Tolerant ZNN-Based Data-Driven Iterative Learning Control for Discrete Nonaffine Nonlinear MIMO Repetitive Systems

Aiming at the tracking problem of a class of discrete nonaffine nonlinear multi-input multi-output(MIMO) repetitive systems subjected to separable and nonseparable disturbances, a novel data-driven iterative learning control(ILC) scheme based on the zeroing neural networks(ZNNs) is proposed. First, the equivalent dynamic linearization data model is obtained by means of dynamic linearization technology, which exists theoretically in the iteration domain. Then, the iterative extended state observer(IESO) is developed to estimate the disturbance and the coupling between systems, and the decoupled dynamic linearization model is obtained for the purpose of controller synthesis. To solve the zero-seeking tracking problem with inherent tolerance of noise,an ILC based on noise-tolerant modified ZNN is proposed. The strict assumptions imposed on the initialization conditions of each iteration in the existing ILC methods can be absolutely removed with our method. In addition, theoretical analysis indicates that the modified ZNN can converge to the exact solution of the zero-seeking tracking problem. Finally, a generalized example and an application-oriented example are presented to verify the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed process.

Quaternion-Based Adaptive Trajectory Tracking Control of a Rotor-Missile with Unknown Parameters Identification

This paper investigates the adaptive trajectory tracking control problem and the unknown parameter identification problem of a class of rotor-missiles with parametric system uncertainties.First,considering the uncertainty of structural and aerodynamic parameters,the six-degree-of-freedom(6Do F) nonlinear equations describing the position and attitude dynamics of the rotor-missile are established,respectively,in the inertial and body-fixed reference frames.Next,a hierarchical adaptive trajectory tracking controller that can guarantee closed-loop stability is proposed according to the cascade characteristics of the 6Do F dynamics.Then,a memory-augmented update rule of unknown parameters is proposed by integrating all historical data of the regression matrix.As long as the finitely excited condition is satisfied,the precise identification of unknown parameters can be achieved.Finally,the validity of the proposed trajectory tracking controller and the parameter identification method is proved through Lyapunov stability theory and numerical simulations.