Adaptive robust control of nonlinear systems with dynamic uncertainties

In this paper, the discontinuous projection-based adaptive robust control (ARC) approach is extended to a class of nonlinear systems subjected to parametric uncertainties as well as all three types of nonlinear uncertainties—uncertainties could be state-dependent, time-dependent, and/or dynamic. Departing from the existing robust adaptive control approach, the proposed approach differentiates between dynamic uncertainties with and without known structural information. Specifically, adaptive robust observers are constructed to eliminate the effect of dynamic uncertainties with known structural information for an improved steady-state output tracking performance—asymptotic output tracking is achieved when the system is subjected to parametric uncertainties and dynamic uncertainties with known structural information only. In addition, dynamic normalization signals are introduced to construct ARC laws to deal with other uncertainties including dynamic uncertainties without known structural information not only for global stability but also for a guaranteed robust performance in general. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.