No Arabic abstract
This paper aims to provide a methodology for generating autonomous and non-autonomous systems with a fixed-time stable equilibrium point where an Upper Bound of the Settling Time (UBST) is set a priori as a parameter of the system. In addition, some conditions for such an upper bound to be the least one are provided. This construction procedure is a relevant contribution when compared with traditional methodologies for generating fixed-time algorithms satisfying time constraints since current estimates of an UBST may be too conservative. The proposed methodology is based on time-scale transformations and Lyapunov analysis. It allows the presentation of a broad class of fixed-time stable systems with predefined UBST, placing them under a common framework with existing methods using time-varying gains. To illustrate the effectiveness of our approach, we generate novel, autonomous and non-autonomous, fixed-time stable algorithms with predefined least UBST.
Algorithms having uniform convergence with respect to their initial condition (i.e., with fixed-time stability) are receiving increasing attention for solving control and observer design problems under time constraints. However, we still lack a general methodology to design these algorithms for high-order perturbed systems when we additionally need to impose a user-defined upper-bound on their settling time, especially for systems with perturbations. Here, we fill this gap by introducing a methodology to redesign a class of asymptotically, finite- and fixed-time stable systems into non-autonomous fixed-time stable systems with a user-defined upper-bound on their settling time. Our methodology redesigns a system by adding time-varying gains. However, contrary to existing methods where the time-varying gains tend to infinity as the origin is reached, we provide sufficient conditions to maintain bounded gains. We illustrate our methodology by building fixed-time online differentiators with user-defined upper-bound on their settling time and bounded gains.
This paper deals with the convergence time analysis of a class of fixed-time stable systems with the aim to provide a new non-conservative upper bound for its settling time. Our contribution is fourfold. First, we revisit the well-known class of fixed-time stable systems, given in (Polyakov et al.,2012}, while showing the conservatism of the classical upper estimate of the settling time. Second, we provide the smallest constant that uniformly upper bounds the settling time of any trajectory of the system under consideration. Third, introducing a slight modification of the previous class of fixed-time systems, we propose a new predefined-time convergent algorithm where the least upper bound of the settling time is set a priori as a parameter of the system. At last, predefined-time controllers for first order and second order systems are introduced. Some simulation results highlight the performance of the proposed scheme in terms of settling time estimation compared to existing methods.
Constructing differentiation algorithms with a fixed-time convergence and a predefined Upper Bound on their Settling Time (textit{UBST}), i.e., predefined-time differentiators, is attracting attention for solving estimation and control problems under time constraints. However, existing methods are limited to signals having an $n$-th Lipschitz derivative. Here, we introduce a general methodology to design $n$-th order predefined-time differentiators for a broader class of signals: for signals, whose $(n+1)$-th derivative is bounded by a function with bounded logarithmic derivative, i.e., whose $(n+1)$-th derivative grows at most exponentially. Our approach is based on a class of time-varying gains known as Time-Base Generators (textit{TBG}). The only assumption to construct the differentiator is that the class of signals to be differentiated $n$-times have a $(n+1)$-th derivative bounded by a known function with a known bound for its $(n+1)$-th logarithmic derivative. We show how our methodology achieves an textit{UBST} equal to the predefined time, better transient responses with smaller error peaks than autonomous predefined-time differentiators, and a textit{TBG} gain that is bounded at the settling time instant.
There is an increasing interest in designing differentiators, which converge exactly before a prespecified time regardless of the initial conditions, i.e., which are fixed-time convergent with a predefined Upper Bound of their Settling Time (UBST), due to their ability to solve estimation and control problems with time constraints. However, for the class of signals with a known bound of their $(n+1)$-th time derivative, the existing design methodologies are either only available for first-order differentiators, yielding a very conservative UBST, or result in gains that tend to infinity at the convergence time. Here, we introduce a new methodology based on time-varying gains to design arbitrary-order exact differentiators with a predefined UBST. This UBST is a priori set as one parameter of the algorithm. Our approach guarantees that the UBST can be set arbitrarily tight, and we also provide sufficient conditions to obtain exact convergence while maintaining bounded time-varying gains. Additionally, we provide necessary and sufficient conditions such that our approach yields error dynamics with a uniformly Lyapunov stable equilibrium. Our results show how time-varying gains offer a general and flexible methodology to design algorithms with a predefined UBST.
Differentiation is an important task in control, observation and fault detection. Levants differentiator is unique, since it is able to estimate exactly and robustly the derivatives of a signal with a bounded high-order derivative. However, the convergence time, although finite, grows unboundedly with the norm of the initial differentiation error, making it uncertain when the estimated derivative is exact. In this paper we propose an extension of Levants differentiator so that the worst case convergence time can be arbitrarily assigned independently of the initial condition, i.e. the estimation converges in emph{Fixed-Time}. We propose also a family of continuous differentiators and provide a unified Lyapunov framework for analysis and design.