CAREER: Nonlinearity and Uncertainty in Control System Design

ECS-9703294弗里曼反馈的一个基本目的是减少不确定性对系统行为的影响。然而，当应用不当时，反馈也会增加不稳定和其他不良现象的风险。长期以来，反馈控制器成功设计的一个障碍是模型和实际系统中存在的非线性。这个项目的目标是开发设计不确定非线性系统反馈控制器的创新方法，并培养未来的工程师和研究人员应用这些方法。该项目将为西北大学罗伯特·R·麦考密克工程与应用科学学院在非线性和鲁棒控制理论方面的综合研究和教育计划奠定基础。该项目的教育目标是修改现有的系统与控制本科和研究生课程，并开发新的非线性控制系统分析和设计研究生课程。从拟议的研究活动中选择的主题将被纳入这些课程。这些活动将极大地促进动态系统与控制委员会的教育目标，这是西北大学的一个新的跨学科项目，有来自五个工程系的教职员工和学生参与。该项目的研究目标是进一步发展PI及其同事开创的非线性控制设计技术，并加深对当前非线性控制理论基本问题的理解。在这个项目的过程中，PI将识别新的和现有的非线性设计方法中的那些灵活性，这些方法可以被用来为实际应用获得良好的控制器。例如，一个任务是创建新的工具，将实际系统中普遍存在的非线性控制约束纳入控制设计过程，这与在设计过程中忽略这些约束的传统方法不同。另一项任务是分析测量误差对非线性反馈回路行为的影响，并开发减少这种影响的设计技术。与加利福尼亚州千橡市的罗克韦尔科学中心合作，新的非线性设计方法将应用于汽车控制、飞机控制和工业自动化控制中的问题。该项目将对不断发展的非线性控制理论做出重大贡献，特别是在鲁棒非线性控制领域。在这个项目的过程中开发的设计指南对于试图将最先进的方法应用于实际控制问题的控制工程师来说将是无价的。此外，该项目将对西北大学系统与控制专业的跨学科研究生课程产生重大影响。参加拟议设计课程的学生不仅将接触到非线性控制领域的最新突破，还将对自然或工程师设计的反馈回路中的非线性影响有一个欣赏和基本的理解。

ECS-9703294 Freeman A basic purpose of feedback is to reduce the effect of uncertainty on the behavior of a system. When applied inappropriately, however, feedback can also increase the risk of instability and other undesirable phenomena. An obstacle to the successful design of feedback controllers has long been the presence of nonlinearity in models and in real systems. The goal of this project is to develop innovative methods for designing feedback controllers for uncertain nonlinear systems and to educate future engineers and researchers in their application. This project will build the foundation of an integrated program of research and education in nonlinear and robust control theory in the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University. The educational goals of this project are to revise existing undergraduate and graduate courses in systems and control and to develop new graduate courses on nonlinear control system analysis and design. Selected topics from the proposed research activities will be integrated into these courses. These activities will contribute substantially to the educational objectives of the Council on Dynamic Systems and Control, a new interdisciplinary program at Northwestern with participating faculty and students from five engineering departments. The research goals of this project are to further develop the nonlinear control design techniques pioneered by the PI and co-workers and to deepen the current understanding of fundamental issues in nonlinear control theory. During the course of this project, the PI will identify those flexibility's in new and existing nonlinear design methods which can be exploited to obtain good controllers for practical applications. For example, one task is to create new tools for incorporating nonlinear control constraints ubiquitous in real systems into the control design procedure, a departure from the traditional approach of ignoring such constraints during the design. Another task is to analyze the effects of measurement error on the behavior of nonlinear feedback loops and to develop design techniques for reducing such effects. In collaboration with Rockwell Science Center in Thousand Oaks, California, the new nonlinear design methods will be applied to problems in automotive control, aircraft control, and industrial automation control. This project will result in a significant contribution to the growing discipline of nonlinear control theory, particularly in the area of robust nonlinear control. Design guidelines developed during the course of this project will be invaluable to the control engineer who is trying to apply the state-of-the-art methods to real control problems. Furthermore, this project will make a substantial impact on the interdisciplinary graduate program in systems and control at Northwestern. Not only will students who take the proposed design courses be exposed to the latest breakthroughs in the field of nonlinear control, they will also develop an appreciation and basic understanding of the effects of nonlinearity in feedback loops created by nature or designed by engineers.