Design of Stabilizing and Locally-robust Nonlinear Controllers for a Class of Nonlinear Systems

This paper presents a new practical technique to design stabilizing locallyrobust nonlinear controllers using ideas from feedback linearization theory. The asymptotic stability of the nonlinear closed loop system is achieved by constructing outputs for the linearized plant at a given equilibrium point. A method is presented to locate transmission zeros of the linearized plant, so as to stabilize the linear closed loop system and guarantee optimal modal robustness. Outputs are then constructed to place the transmission zeros of the linearized plant at these locations. The nonlinear feedback for the nonlinear system is then constructed from these outputs.