A Novel Disturbance Observer Based Fixed-Time Sliding Mode Control for Robotic Manipulators With Global Fast Convergence

This paper proposes a new global fixed-time sliding mode control strategy for the trajectory tracking control of uncertain robotic manipulators.First,a fixed-time disturbance observer(FTDO) is designed to deal with the adverse effects of model uncertainties and external disturbances in the manipulator systems.Then an adaptive scheme is used and the adaptive FTDO(AFTDO) is developed,so that the priori knowledge of the lumped disturbance is not required.Further,a new non-singular fast terminal sliding mode(NFTSM) surface is designed by using an arctan function,which helps to overcome the singularity problem and enhance the robustness of the system.Based on the estimation of the lumped disturbance by the AFTDO,a fixed-time non-singular fast terminal sliding mode controller(FTNFTSMC)is developed to guarantee the trajectory tracking errors converge to zero within a fixed time.The settling time is independent of the initial state of the system.In addition,the stability of the AFTDO and FTNFTSMC is strictly proved by using Lyapunov method.Finally,the fixed-time NFESM(FTNFTSM) algorithm is validated on a 2-link manipulator and comparisons with other existing sliding mode controllers(SMCs) are performed.The comparative results confirm that the FTNFTSMC has superior control performance.

Fixed-Time Gradient Flows for Solving Constrained Optimization: A Unified Approach

The accelerated method in solving optimization problems has always been an absorbing topic.Based on the fixedtime(FxT)stability of nonlinear dynamical systems,we provide a unified approach for designing FxT gradient flows(FxTGFs).First,a general class of nonlinear functions in designing FxTGFs is provided.A unified method for designing first-order FxTGFs is shown under Polyak-Łjasiewicz inequality assumption,a weaker condition than strong convexity.When there exist both bounded and vanishing disturbances in the gradient flow,a specific class of nonsmooth robust FxTGFs with disturbance rejection is presented.Under the strict convexity assumption,Newton-based FxTGFs is given and further extended to solve time-varying optimization.Besides,the proposed FxTGFs are further used for solving equation-constrained optimization.Moreover,an FxT proximal gradient flow with a wide range of parameters is provided for solving nonsmooth composite optimization.To show the effectiveness of various FxTGFs,the static regret analyses for several typical FxTGFs are also provided in detail.Finally,the proposed FxTGFs are applied to solve two network problems,i.e.,the network consensus problem and solving a system linear equations,respectively,from the perspective of optimization.Particularly,by choosing component-wisely sign-preserving functions,these problems can be solved in a distributed way,which extends the existing results.The accelerated convergence and robustness of the proposed FxTGFs are validated in several numerical examples stemming from practical applications.

A Finite-Time Convergent Analysis of Continuous Action Iterated Dilemma

Dear Editor,In this letter, a finite-time convergent analysis of continuous action iterated dilemma(CAID) is proposed. In traditional evolutionary game theory, the strategy of the player is binary(cooperation or defection), which limits the number of strategies a player can choose from.

Fixed-Time Antidisturbance Consensus Tracking for Nonlinear Multiagent Systems With Matching and Mismatching Disturbances

In this paper,fixed-time consensus tracking for mul-tiagent systems(MASs)with dynamics in the form of strict feed-back affine nonlinearity is addressed.A fixed-time antidistur-bance consensus tracking protocol is proposed,which consists of a distributed fixed-time observer,a fixed-time disturbance observer,a nonsmooth antidisturbance backstepping controller,and the fixed-time stability analysis is conducted by using the Lyapunov theory correspondingly.This paper includes three main improvements.First,a distributed fixed-time observer is developed for each follower to obtain an estimate of the leader’s output by utilizing the topology of the communication network.Second,a fixed-time disturbance observer is given to estimate the lumped disturbances for feedforward compensation.Finally,a nonsmooth antidisturbance backstepping tracking controller with feedforward compensation for lumped disturbances is designed.In order to mitigate the“explosion of complexity”in the tradi-tional backstepping approach,we have implemented a modified nonsmooth command filter to enhance the performance of the closed-loop system.The simulation results show that the pro-posed method is effective.

Fixed-Time Sliding Mode Control With Varying Exponent Coefficient for Modular Reconfigurable Flight Arrays

The modular system can change its physical structure by self-assembly and self-disassembly between modules to dynamically adapt to task and environmental requirements. Recognizing the adaptive capability of modular systems, we introduce a modular reconfigurable flight array(MRFA) to pursue a multifunction aircraft fitting for diverse tasks and requirements,and investigate the attitude control and the control allocation problem by using the modular reconfigurable flight array as a platform. First, considering the variable and irregular topological configuration of the modular array, a center-of-mass-independent flight array dynamics model is proposed to allow control allocation under over-actuated situations. Secondly, in order to meet the stable, fast and accurate attitude tracking performance of the MRFA, a fixed-time convergent sliding mode controller with state-dependent variable exponent coefficients is proposed to ensure fast convergence rate both away from and near the system equilibrium point without encountering the singularity. It is shown that the controller also has fixed-time convergent characteristics even in the presence of external disturbances. Finally,simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed modeling and control strategies.

Revised barrier function-based adaptive finite-and fixed-time convergence super-twisting control

This paper presents an adaptive gain,finite-and fixedtime convergence super-twisting-like algorithm based on a revised barrier function,which is robust to perturbations with unknown bounds.It is shown that this algorithm can ensure a finite-and fixed-time convergence of the sliding variable to the equilibrium,no matter what the initial conditions of the system states are,and maintain it there in a predefined vicinity of the origin without violation.Also,the proposed method avoids the problem of overestimation of the control gain that exists in the current fixed-time adaptive control.Moreover,it shows that the revised barrier function can effectively reduce the computation load by obviating the need of increasing the magnitude of sampling step compared with the conventional barrier function.This feature will be beneficial when the algorithm is implemented in practice.After that,the estimation of the fixed convergence time of the proposed method is derived and the impractical requirement of the preceding fixed-time adaptive control that the adaptive gains must be large enough to engender the sliding mode at time t=0 is discarded.Finally,the outperformance of the proposed method over the existing counterpart method is demonstrated with a numerical simulation.

Adaptive Fixed-Time Control of Nonlinear MASs With Actuator Faults

The adaptive fixed-time consensus problem for a class of nonlinear multi-agent systems(MASs)with actuator faults is considered in this paper.To approximate the unknown nonlinear functions in MASs,radial basis function neural networks are used.In addition,the first order sliding mode differentiator is utilized to solve the“explosion of complexity”problem,and a filter error compensation method is proposed to ensure the convergence of filter error in fixed time.With the help of the Nussbaum function,the actuator failure compensation mechanism is constructed.By designing the adaptive fixed-time controller,all signals in MASs are bounded,and the consensus errors between the leader and all followers converge to a small area of origin.Finally,the effectiveness of the proposed control method is verified by simulation examples.

Dynamic Event-Triggered Fixed-Time Consensus Control and Its Applications to Magnetic Map Construction

This article deals with the consensus problem of multi-agent systems by developing a fixed-time consensus control approach with a dynamic event-triggered rule. First, a new fixedtime stability condition is obtained where the less conservative settling time is given such that the theoretical settling time can well reflect the real consensus time. Second, a dynamic event-triggered rule is designed to decrease the use of chip and network resources where Zeno behaviors can be avoided after consensus is achieved, especially for finite/fixed-time consensus control approaches. Third, in terms of the developed dynamic event-triggered rule, a fixed-time consensus control approach by introducing a new item is proposed to coordinate the multi-agent system to reach consensus. The corresponding stability of the multi-agent system with the proposed control approach and dynamic eventtriggered rule is analyzed based on Lyapunov theory and the fixed-time stability theorem. At last, the effectiveness of the dynamic event-triggered fixed-time consensus control approach is verified by simulations and experiments for the problem of magnetic map construction based on multiple mobile robots.

Fixed-time group consensus of second-order multi-agent systems based on event-triggered control

The problem of fixed-time group consensus for second-order multi-agent systems with disturbances is investigated.For cooperative-competitive network,two different control protocols,fixed-time group consensus and fixed-time eventtriggered group consensus,are designed.It is demonstrated that there is no Zeno behavior under the designed eventtriggered control.Meanwhile,it is proved that for an arbitrary initial state of the system,group consensus within the settling time could be obtained under the proposed control protocols by using matrix analysis and graph theory.Finally,a series of numerical examples are propounded to illustrate the performance of the proposed control protocol.

Fixed-Time Stabilization of a Class of Strict-Feedback Nonlinear Systems via Dynamic Gain Feedback Control

This paper presents a novel fixed-time stabilization control(FSC)method for a class of strict-feedback nonlinear systems involving unmodelled system dynamics.The key feature of the proposed method is the design of two dynamic parameters.Specifically,a set of auxiliary variables is first introduced through state transformation.These variables combine the original system states and the two introduced dynamic parameters,facilitating the closed-loop system stability analyses.Then,the two dynamic parameters are delicately designed by utilizing the Lyapunov method,ensuring that all the closed-loop system states are globally fixed-time stable.Compared with existing results,the“explosion of complexity”problem of backstepping control is avoided.Moreover,the two designed dynamic parameters are dependent on system states rather than a time-varying function,thus the proposed controller is still valid beyond the given fixedtime convergence instant.The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated through two practical systems.

Team-based fixed-time containment control for multi-agent systems with disturbances

We investigate the fixed-time containment control(FCC)problem of multi-agent systems(MASs)under discontinuous communication.A saturation function is used in the controller to achieve the containment control in MASs.One difference from using a symbolic function is that it avoids the differential calculation process for discontinuous functions,which further ensures the continuity of the control input.Considering the discontinuous communication,a dynamic variable is constructed,which is always non-negative between any two communications of the agent.Based on the designed variable,the dynamic event-triggered algorithm is proposed to achieve FCC,which can effectively reduce controller updating.In addition,we further design a new event-triggered algorithm to achieve FCC,called the team-trigger mechanism,which combines the self-triggering technique with the proposed dynamic event trigger mechanism.It has faster convergence than the proposed dynamic event triggering technique and achieves the tradeoff between communication cost,convergence time and number of triggers in MASs.Finally,Zeno behavior is excluded and the validity of the proposed theory is confirmed by simulation.

Deterministic and Stochastic Fixed-Time Stability of Discrete-time Autonomous Systems

This paper studies deterministic and stochastic fixedtime stability of autonomous nonlinear discrete-time(DT)systems.Lyapunov conditions are first presented under which the fixed-time stability of deterministic DT systems is certified.Extensions to systems under deterministic perturbations as well as stochastic noise are then considered.For the former,sensitivity to perturbations for fixed-time stable DT systems is analyzed,and it is shown that fixed-time attractiveness results from the presented Lyapunov conditions.For the latter,sufficient Lyapunov conditions for fixed-time stability in probability of nonlinear stochastic DT systems are presented.The fixed upper bound of the settling-time function is derived for both fixed-time stable and fixed-time attractive systems,and a stochastic settling-time function fixed upper bound is derived for stochastic DT systems.Illustrative examples are given along with simulation results to verify the introduced results.

Adaptive Fixed-Time Synchronization of Delayed Memristor-Based Neural Networks with Discontinuous Activations

Fixed-time synchronization(FTS)of delayed memristor-based neural networks(MNNs)with discontinuous activations is studied in this paper.Both continuous and discontinuous activations are considered forMNNs.And the mixed delays which are closer to reality are taken into the system.Besides,two kinds of control schemes are proposed,including feedback and adaptive control strategies.Based on some lemmas,mathematical inequalities and the designed controllers,a few synchronization criteria are acquired.Moreover,the upper bound of settling time(ST)which is independent of the initial values is given.Finally,the feasibility of our theory is attested by simulation examples.

Refined disturbance observer based prescribed performance fixed-time control of high-speed EMS trains with track irregularities

High-speed Electromagnetic Suspension(EMS)train is continuously impacted by the irregularity of the track,which worsens the levitation performance of the train.In this paper,a composite control scheme for the EMS is proposed to suppress track irregularities by integrating a Refined Disturbance Observer(RDO)and a Prescribed Performance Fixed-Time Controller(PPFTC).The RDO is designed to estimate precisely the track irregularities and lumped disturbances with uncertainties and exogenous disturbances in the suspension system,and reduce input chattering by applying to the disturbance compensation channel.PPFTC is designed to converge the suspension air gap error to equilibrium point with prescribed performance by completing error conversion,and solve the fast dynamic issue of EMS.And the boundary of overshoot and steady-state is limited in the ranged prescribed.A theoretical analysis is conducted on the stability of the proposed control method.Finally,the effectiveness and reasonability of the proposed composite anti-disturbance control scheme is verified by simulation results.

A SUPERLINEARLY CONVERGENT SPLITTING FEASIBLE SEQUENTIAL QUADRATIC OPTIMIZATION METHOD FOR TWO-BLOCK LARGE-SCALE SMOOTH OPTIMIZATION

This paper discusses the two-block large-scale nonconvex optimization problem with general linear constraints.Based on the ideas of splitting and sequential quadratic optimization(SQO),a new feasible descent method for the discussed problem is proposed.First,we consider the problem of quadratic optimal(QO)approximation associated with the current feasible iteration point,and we split the QO into two small-scale QOs which can be solved in parallel.Second,a feasible descent direction for the problem is obtained and a new SQO-type method is proposed,namely,splitting feasible SQO(SF-SQO)method.Moreover,under suitable conditions,we analyse the global convergence,strong convergence and rate of superlinear convergence of the SF-SQO method.Finally,preliminary numerical experiments regarding the economic dispatch of a power system are carried out,and these show that the SF-SQO method is promising.

Valence Bands Convergence in p-Type CoSb_(3) through Electronegative Fluorine Filling

Band convergence is considered to be a strategy with clear benefits for thermoelectric performance,generally favoring the co-optimization of conductivity and Seebeck coefficients,and the conventional means include elemental filling to regulate the band.However,the influence of the most electronegative fluorine on the CoSb_(3) band remains unclear.We carry out density-functional-theory calculations and show that the valence band maximum gradually shifts downward with the increase of fluorine filling,lastly the valence band maximum converges to the highly degenerated secondary valence bands in fluorine-filled skutterudites.

Call for Papers——Feature Topic Vol.22,No.3,2025 Special Issue of China Communications:Convergence of 6G empowered Edge Intelligence and Generative AI:Theories,Algorithms,and Applications

Generative artificial intelligence(AI),as an emerging paradigm in content generation,has demonstrated its great potentials in creating high-fidelity data including images,texts,and videos.Nowadays wireless networks and applications have been rapidly evolving from achieving“connected things”to embracing“connected intelligence”.Generative AI has been recognized as a fundamentally innovative technology to drive the advancement of intelligent wireless communications and networks.

Diagnostic values of questionnaires of Convergence Insufficiency Symptom Survey and College of Optometrists Vision Development Quality of Life in the screening of convergence insufficiency

AIM:To compare and analyse the diagnostic efficacy of the College of Optometrists Vision Development Quality of Life Questionnaire(COVD-QOL)and the Convergence Insufficiency Symptom Survey(CISS)in detecting convergence insufficiency and to compare their diagnostic value in clinical applications.METHODS:Using the diagnostic test method,62 adult patients with convergence insufficiency(age:24.74±3.75y)and 62 normal participants(age:23.61±3.13y)who visited the Optometry Clinic of West China Hospital of Sichuan University from April 2021 to January 2023 were included.All subjects completed the CISS and COVD-QOL.Statistical analysis of the sensitivity and specificity of the CISS and COVD-QOL and comparison and joint experimental analysis of their diagnostic efficacy were performed.RESULTS:The sensitivity of the CISS and COVD-QOL for convergence insufficiency was 64.5%and 71.0%,respectively,while the specificity was 96.8%and 67.7%,respectively.Compared to the CISS alone,the combination of the CISS and COVD-QOL demonstrated lower sensitivity and specificity.The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve of CISS,COVD-QOL and CISS combined with COVD-QOL were 0.806,0.694 and 0.782,respectively.CONCLUSION:Considering the low sensitivity of the CISS and the low specificity of the COVD-QOL,it is recommended to supplement these questionnaires with other screening tests for the detection of convergence insufficiency.

Quantitative analysis and prediction of the sound field convergence zone in mesoscale eddy environment based on data mining methods

The mesoscale eddy(ME)has a significant influence on the convergence effect in deep-sea acoustic propagation.This paper use statistical approaches to express quantitative relationships between the ME conditions and convergence zone(CZ)characteristics.Based on the Gaussian vortex model,we construct various sound propagation scenarios under different eddy conditions,and carry out sound propagation experiments to obtain simulation samples.With a large number of samples,we first adopt the unified regression to set up analytic relationships between eddy conditions and CZ parameters.The sensitivity of eddy indicators to the CZ is quantitatively analyzed.Then,we adopt the machine learning(ML)algorithms to establish prediction models of CZ parameters by exploring the nonlinear relationships between multiple ME indicators and CZ parameters.Through the research,we can express the influence of ME on the CZ quantitatively,and achieve the rapid prediction of CZ parameters in ocean eddies.The prediction accuracy(R)of the CZ distance(mean R:0.9815)is obviously better than that of the CZ width(mean R:0.8728).Among the three ML algorithms,Gradient Boosting Decision Tree has the best prediction ability(root mean square error(RMSE):0.136),followed by Random Forest(RMSE:0.441)and Extreme Learning Machine(RMSE:0.518).

Multi-modal knowledge graph inference via media convergence and logic rule

Media convergence works by processing information from different modalities and applying them to different domains.It is difficult for the conventional knowledge graph to utilise multi-media features because the introduction of a large amount of information from other modalities reduces the effectiveness of representation learning and makes knowledge graph inference less effective.To address the issue,an inference method based on Media Convergence and Rule-guided Joint Inference model(MCRJI)has been pro-posed.The authors not only converge multi-media features of entities but also introduce logic rules to improve the accuracy and interpretability of link prediction.First,a multi-headed self-attention approach is used to obtain the attention of different media features of entities during semantic synthesis.Second,logic rules of different lengths are mined from knowledge graph to learn new entity representations.Finally,knowledge graph inference is performed based on representing entities that converge multi-media features.Numerous experimental results show that MCRJI outperforms other advanced baselines in using multi-media features and knowledge graph inference,demonstrating that MCRJI provides an excellent approach for knowledge graph inference with converged multi-media features.