Design of robust-stable and quadratic finite-horizon optimal controllers with low trajectory sensitivity for uncertain active suspension systems

This paper presents a design method for designing the robust-stable and quadratic-finite-horizon-optimal controllers of uncertain active suspension systems. The method integrates a robust stabilisability condition, the orthogonal functions approach (OFA) and the hybrid Taguchi-genetic algorithm (HTGA). Using the integrative computational method, a robust-stable and quadratic-finite-horizon-optimal controller with low-trajectory sensitivity can be obtained such that (i) the active suspension system with elemental parametric uncertainties is stabilised and (ii) a quadratic-finite-horizon-integral performance index including a quadratic trajectory sensitivity term for the nominal active suspension system is minimised. The robust stabilisability condition is proposed in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). Based on the OFA, an algebraic algorithm only involving the algebraic computation is derived for solving the nominal active suspension feedback dynamic equations. By using the OFA and the LMI-based robust stabilisability condition, the dynamic optimisation problem for the robust-stable and quadratic-finite-horizon-optimal controller design of the linear uncertain active suspension system is transformed into a static-constrained-optimisation problem represented by the algebraic equations with constraint of LMI-based robust stabilisability condition; thus greatly simplifies the design problem. Then, for the static-constrained-optimisation problem, the HTGA is employed to find the robust-stable and quadratic-finite-horizon-optimal controllers of the linear uncertain active suspension systems. A design example is given to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed integrative computational approach.