Robust Design of Closed-Loop Nonlinear Systems with Input and State Constraints

This work focuses on the control design for feedback linearizable nonlinear systems with unknown time-varying disturbances and uncertainty such that bounds on inputs and state constraints are not violated. Exploiting the special structure of the systems considered, controllers based on Lyapunov’s direct methods are easily synthesized, which enforce asymptotic stability in the presence of bounded inputs. However, these controllers do not account explicitly for state constraints in the presence of disturbances and uncertainty. The solution of this task is addressed in this work by an optimization-based method, the so-called normal vector approach.