IJCSES International Journal of Computer Sciences and Engineering Systems, Vol. 5, No.

4, October 2011
CSES International © 2011 ISSN 0973-4406

Adaptive Direct Inverse Neural Network Control for

Nonlinear System
Ayachi ERRACHDI1, Ihsen SAAD2 and Mohamed BENREJEB3
University of El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia
LARA Automatique, ENIT, BP 37, Le Belvédère, Tunis 1002, Tunisia
1
errachdi_ayachi@yahoo.fr; 2ihsen.saad@enit.rnu.tn; 3mohamed.benrejeb@enit.rnu.tn

Abstract: In this paper is proposed an on-line method for Direct Inverse Control (DIC) based on Neural Network (NN) for
nonlinear system. The corresponding algorithm uses a variable learning rate. The proposed method is dependent on the
availability of the inverse model of the system. This obtained on-line inverse model will be used as a controller. This latter is
used in series with the process. The robustness of the proposed inverse model neural network control strategy is investigated
in the case of noisy nonlinear system. From the experiments, it is showing that the performance of the on-line DIC is much
better than the off-line DIC. Two different reference command signals are used to test the control system performance, and
it is noted that an excellent tracking response is exhibited in the presence of disturbance.
Keywords: Nonlinear systems, neural network, variable learning rate, model inversion, direct inverse control.

1. INTRODUCTION conventional controllers, thus in these papers [1]-

In recent years, there has been a significant increase
in the number of control system techniques that are
based on nonlinear concepts. However, most of
these control system depend heavily on the exact
knowledge of the system’s dynamic model [1]. One
such method is the neural network control which
well applied since the 80s [2]. Neural networks have
the advantages to learn sufficiently accurate models
[3-8] and provide good nonlinear control when
model equations are not known or only partial state
information is available [9]. In process control
applications, NN can be incorporated in the control
strategy via either the direct or indirect methods
[1]. In the direct method that is proposed in this
paper, a NN is trained to represent the on-line
inverse dynamics of the system.
In different fields, such as the steel pickling
process [1], the continuous stirred reactor [9]-[14],
the magneto rheological damper [15], the twin rotor
[16], the induction motor [17], the robot manipulator
[18], the discrete and continuous nonlinear systems
[19]-[25], the gas diffusion [26] and the power
tracking for wind energy [27], the DIC is applied.
Due to the highly nonlinear dynamic behavior
of some system, it is so difficult to control by
Manuscript received August 25, 2011
Manuscript revised December 15, 2011
[27] the DIC is used in off-line system control.
Indeed, two steps are applied. The first step is to
prepare the inverse model in an off-line phase. The
second step is to use the obtained inverse model
in system control strategy. Nevertheless, when the
reference command signal change suddenly or
when the system is very complex, the inverse
model can’t help the system control to find the
suitable control law. In consequence, this strategy
is lack of robustness. Therefore, the aim of this
paper is to apply an adaptive strategy of system
control based on model inversion. Indeed, in this
paper an on-line inverse model is proposed. This
inverse model is based on neural network using
variable learning rate η. The obtained inverse
model is used on-line in series with process. The
robustness of the proposed control strategy is
investigated in the case of noisy nonlinear system.
From the experiments, it is showing that the
performance of the on-line DIC is much better than
the off-line DIC.
The paper is organized as follows. In second
section, the presentation of the on-line method to
find an inverse model using neural network is
detailed. The procedure for obtaining an on-line
direct inverse control is developed in the third
section. Examples are provided in section 4, and
conclusions are given in section 5.
290 IJCSES International Journal of Computer Sciences and Engineering Systems, Vol. 5, No. 4, October 2011

2. ON-LINE NEURAL INVERSE MODEL

On the basis of the input and output relation of a
system, the above nonlinear system can be
expressed by a NARMA (Nonlinear Auto-
Regressive Moving Average) model [28], that is
given by the following form:
y( k + 1) = f ( y( k ),..., y( k − N y + 1), u( k ),..., u( k − N u + 1)) (1)
where f is a nonlinear mapping, u(k) and y(k) are
the input and output vector, Nu and Ny are the
maximum input and output lags, respectively.
uˆ ( k ) = λs  zlT S( Wx ) (5)
Network learning or training is the process of
weighting adjustment based on the input/output
data. Training algorithms are generally based on
the minimization of an error function that is the
function of the vector of weights to be adjusted.
Generally, these algorithms include the Gauss
Newton based Levenberg Marquardt method [29],
the recursive estimation method, the gradient
descent algorithm and the least-squares algorithm.

Generally, it is difficult to determine an inverse In this work, Descent Gradient (DG) method, a
model for a complex nonlinear system using version of the back propagation algorithm is used
conventional methods. Recently, the artificial neural for training the NN. The objective of this algorithm
network [1]-[27] has been effectively applied to find is to minimize the sum of the squares of the errors
the inverse model of complex systems because of Jmi.
its great learning and creation functions. In this 1 N 1 N
section, the structure of neural inverse model is J mi = ∑
2 k =0
( emi ( k ))2 = ∑ (u( k ) − uˆ ( k ))2
2 k =0 (6)
studied and showed in figure 1.
The derivative of (Jmi) with respect zl and wlj
The network is fed with past inputs, past
gives the equation for updating the synaptic
outputs and present outputs. The network then
weights of inverse model:
predicts the controller output u(k). The final
network representation of the inverse model is zl ( k ) = zl ( k − 1) + ηλs '( hl )S( Wx )emi ( k )
given by: (7)
wlj ( k ) = wlj ( k − 1) + ηλs '( hl )S '( Wx )zl xT emi ( k )
−1
u( k ) = f ( y ( k + 1),..., y ( k − N y ), u( k − 1),..., u( k − N u ))
(2)
The Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) used in
the nonlinear system identification and control is a
multilayer neural network with tapped delay lines
of both input and output. The delay elements are
used to introduce delayed inputs and outputs that
are then fed to a static network as the regressor
vector so that the predicted RNN out will follow
the target output.
The output of the lth node, of the hidden layer,
is given by the following equation, l = 1,..., N1:

 N0 
s( hl ) = s  ∑ wlj x j  (3)
 j =1 
Figure 1: Inverse Neural Network Model
The output of the inverse neural network model
uˆ ( k ) is given by the following equation.
2.1. The Proposed Algorithm
 N1  N0   The DIC is well applied in off-line control [1]-[27].
uˆ ( k ) = λs  ∑ s  ∑ wlj x j  zl  Nevertheless, these kinds of strategies control prove
 l=1 j =1 
    its ineffectiveness and its inability when the system
 N1  (4) parameters unknown or change suddenly. To ovoid
= λs  ∑ s( hl )zl  this problem, an on-line control algorithm is
 l=1 
proposed. Indeed, to find the parameters of the
or in the compact form: inverse RNN model in each moment two steps are
Adaptive Direct Inverse Neural Network Control for Nonlinear System
called. The first step is to find the initialization
parameters in off-line learning step using M
observations (M<<N).
The second step is to find the inverse parameters
model at time (k + 1) when a new input/output data
(u (k+1), y (k+1)) has received. In this step, the gap
( k + 1)
emi = u( k + 1) − uˆ ( k + 1) between the actual input u(k+1)
and the estimated one uˆ ( k + 1) is evaluated. If this gap
is higher than the given threshold (ε) a new other
data is received else an update of the synaptic is
necessary.
Algorithm
Step 1: Initialization:
For M observations (M<<N), an inverse RNN model
given by:
uˆ ( k ) = λs  ZlT S( Wx ) (8)
Step 2: Structure:
At time instant (k+1), is introduced a new data
(u(k+1)
, y
), if e < ε is satisfied then the model
(k+1) ( k + 1)
mi
approaches sufficiently the inverse of the
dynamic nonlinear system, else the update of the
synaptic weights is necessary. This type of
algorithm is applied with success in on-line direct
model [30].
2.2. Error Analysis
The used learning rate (η), in all studies [1]-[27], is
a positive constant value. Consequently is detailed
that if (η) is large the learning may occur quickly
but it may also become unstable. And if (η) is small,
the learning may take a long time which slows the
on-line control. In this paper, an adaptive learning
rate is proposed. This algorithm was demonstrated
in off-line direct model [31, 32]. In this paper, an
adaptive learning rate is proposed for on-line direct
inverse neural network control. Indeed, the error
between the actual input u(k) and the estimated
input uˆ ( k ) is given by the following equation.
∆emi ( k + 1) = ∆u( k + 1) − ∆uˆ ( k + 1) (9)
where
∆emi ( k + 1) = emi ( k + 1) − emi ( k )
∆u( k + 1) = u( k + 1) − u( k )
(10)
∆uˆ ( k + 1) = uˆ ( k + 1) − uˆ ( k )
291
by application of the method of [32]
∆u( k + 1)  ∆uˆ ( k + 1) then we obtained :
∆emi ( k + 1)  −∆uˆ ( k + 1) = −λ∆s( hl ) = −ηρ( k )emi ( k ) (11)
with
ρ( k ) = λ 2 s '2 ( hl ) ST ( Wx )S( Wx ) + zlT S '( Wx )S( Wx )zl x T x  (12)
from where :
emi ( k + 1) = [1 − ηρ( k )] emi ( k ) (13)
To ensure convergence, i.e., lim emi ( k ) = 0 , it is
k →∞
necessary that emi ( k ) < 1 is satisfied. This condition
proves that 0 < η < 2ρ−1 ( k ) and is necessary to have
a variable learning rate. The fastest training occurs
when the learning is η( k ) = ρ−1 ( k ) .
The obtained learning rate is variable because
ρ(k) depends on the neural input vector x, depends
on wlj and depends on zl.
3. DIRECT INVERSE CONTROL FOR
NONLINEAR SYSTEM
This type of control system is the most classic ones
in the field of non adaptive neural control [33], but
its performance rely heavily on the accuracy of the
model used for the design of the controller. The
figure 2 presents the direct inverse neural network
control. r(k+1) is the reference signal and uˆ ( k ) is the
control signal. Nû and Ny are respectively the signal
control delay and system output delay.
The well principle of this kind of system control
is to find the inverse model in off-line step and using
it in control strategy. But, in this paper a procedure
for obtaining an on-line DIC for nonlinear system
which is proposed in figure 3.
To let the output system follows the reference
signal in each moment. The control law uˆ ( k ) will
be calculated and be compared to the input
system u (k ) . If u
( k + 1)
− uˆ ( k + 1) < ε , the output system
is evaluated. If the gap is higher than the threshold,
the update of the synaptic is necessary. The
proposed algorithm guaranties an adaptive control
for nonlinear system.
4. EXPERIMENTAL RESULT
In this section, an example with and without noise
v(k) is treated to show the effectiveness of the
proposed method.
292 IJCSES International Journal of Computer Sciences and Engineering Systems, Vol. 5, No. 4, October 2011

The applied example is a nonlinear system

proposed by Narendra and Parthasarathy [34], is
given by the following equation.
y( k )y( k − 1)y ( k − 2)u( k − 1)( y ( k − 2) − 1) + u( k )
y( k + 1) = + v( k )
1 + y 2 ( k − 1) + y 2 ( k − 2)
(14)
with
u(k) = 0.325 sin(0.95k) cos(0.55k) (15)
Square (1) and sinusoidal (2) reference
command signals are used to test the control system
performance.
The figure 4 presents the on-line inverse neural
model for the nonlinear system with v(k) = 0. In the Figure 2: Inverse Direct Control
first phase of learning, a set of input-output training
data (M = 4) are used us to find the initialization
parameters of model. The obtained parameters are
used to adjust on-line the parameters of the whole
model.
In figure 5 (respectively figure 7), a correspon-
dence of the reference signal (1) (respectively the
reference signal (1)) and the plant output is noticed.
The control law (1) (respectively control law (2)) is
presented in figure 6 (respectively figure 8).
The suggested control algorithm (figure 3)
shows excellent results. The adaptation law of the
on-line DIC using neural network adjusts the
controller parameters on-line so that the plant
output tracks the reference model output (figure 5
and figure 7). In figure 5 is noticed that for the first
six seconds the plant output does not follow the
reference model. But from the seventh second we
note a correspondence between the two signals.
Figure 3: Procedure for Obtaining an On-line DIC for
From the figure 5 and 7, the developed adaptive
Nonlinear System
law guarantees the robustness and stability of all
signals in the closed loop system and ensures that
plant state tracks the state of the reference model.
In the whole design process, no constraints and
prior knowledge of the controlled plant are
required, and the stability of the convergence of the
control system can guaranteed.
The obtained inverse model, in figure 4, is
applied introducing a square reference command
signal. The output system and the reference signal
are shown in figure 5. However, the control law is
presented in figure 6.
In figure 7, another reference signals (sinusoidal
form (2)) is applied and is showing that the plant
output is follows well the sinusoidal reference
signal. The control law (2) is presented in figure 8. Figure 4: The On-line Inverse Neural Model
Adaptive Direct Inverse Neural Network Control for Nonlinear System 293

Figure 5: The Output System and the Reference Signal (1) Figure 8: The Control Law (2)

4.1. Noisy Case

In this case, v(k) ≠ 0, is a random noisy which is
added to nonlinear system given by the equation
(14). The influence of this disturbance was measured
by the Signal Noise to Ratio (SNR) which is given
by the following equation:

∑ ( y ( k ) − y )2
k =1
SNR = N
(16)
∑ ( v( k ) − v )2
k =1

where y and v are respectively the output average

value and noise average value.
In this section SNR is 10%. In figures 9 and 10,
Figure 6: The Control Law (1) the noisy system output and the two references
signals ((1) and (2)) are presented.

Figure 9: The Noisy Output System and the Reference Signal

Figure 7: The Output System and the Reference Signal (2) (1)
294 IJCSES International Journal of Computer Sciences and Engineering Systems, Vol. 5, No. 4, October 2011
Figure 10:The Noisy Output System and the Reference Signal
(2)
In these two figures, the plant output follows
the reference signals ((1) and (2)) although the
disturbances which injected in the output of the
system. In these two examples, the results
simulation proves that the suggested algorithm is
able to control all nonlinear system.
Furthermore, the parameters of the controller
like learning rate can be adjusted on-line with the
other parameters. This avoids the divergence of the
developed algorithm and allows a robustness,
flexibility and stability of the on-line DIC in each
time.
5. CONCLUSION
In many cases of direct inverse control strategies, it
is ever impossible to obtain a suitable process model
due to the complexity of the underlying process and
the lack of knowledge of its critical. A promising way
to overcome these problems is to use on-line inverse
neural networks of the inverse process. In this
investigation an adaptive model inversion control
approach has been developed. An accurate dynamic
model has been simulated and used as the plant and
nonlinear model has been developed. Two different
reference command signals (square and sinusoidal)
are used to test the control system performance, and
it is noted that an excellent tracking response is
exhibited in the presence of disturbance. Future work
is directed to extend this control design to
multivariable nonlinear time-varying system.
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