INTRODUCTION TO

NON-LINEAR CONTROL
Ref: Applied Non-Linear Control
Jean-Jacques E Slotine, Weiping Li
WHY NON-LINEAR CONTROL
➤ Improvement of existing
control system
➤ Analysis of hard non-
linearities
➤ Dealing with model
uncertainties
➤ Design simplicity
NONLINEAR SYSTEM BEHAVIOR
➤ Physical systems are inherently non-linear
➤ Non-linear systems are described by no-linear differential
equations
➤ They are approximated by linear differential equation if they
operate in small range.

➤ Inherent Non-linearities ➤ Intentional Non-linearities

➤ Eg: Centripetal forces, ➤ Introduced by the designer
Coulomb friction ➤ Eg: Adaptive control laws,
bang-bang optimal control
laws
LINEAR SYSTEMS BEHAVIOR
➤ standard form

➤ unique equilibrium point if A is non singular

➤ stable equilibrium point if all eigen values of A have negative
real parts
➤ transient response has natural modes
➤ general soln can be obtained analytically
➤ in presence of external input, the following form
EXAMPLE OF A NON LINEAR SYSTEM BEHAVIOR
➤ Under water vehicle model, where v=velocity, u=thrust

➤ Non-linearity is called square law drag

➤ Response of the system is
COMMON NON-LINEAR BEHAVIORS

➤ Multiple equilibrium points

➤ Limit Cycles
➤ Bifurcations
➤ Chaos etc.
MULTIPLE EQUILIBRIUM POINTS

Example:
LIMIT CYCLES
➤ Oscillations of fixed amplitude and fixed period without external excitation
are called limit cycles.
➤ Also called self excited oscillations.

Example: Van der Pol Equation

➤ This is different from oscillations in linear systems
➤ amplitude is independent of initial condition
➤ not easily affected by system parameter changes
BIFURCATIONS
➤ Qualitative nature of the system changes as the parameters
changes. Parametric values at which this happens is called
bifurcation/critical values.
➤ O/w: Quantitative change of the parameters leading to
qualitative changes in the system properties.
➤ Two types
➤ Pitch fork
➤ Hopf
Example: Undamped Duffing equation
CHAOS
➤ A small difference in the initial conditions can cause a large
difference in the system output.
➤ System out put is extremely sensitive to initial conditions.
A double-rod pendulum animation showing chaotic behavior. Starting the
pendulum from a slightly different initial condition would result in a completely
different trajectory.
PHASE PLANE ANALYSIS
➤ Phase Portraits
➤ Graphical method
➤ used for second order
systems
➤ introduced by Henri
Poincare in 19th century
➤ Phase plane analysis is to
generate in state space, the
motion trajectories of a second
order system with various
initial conditions.
ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES
➤ Graphical method and hence no need to solve the differential
equations analytically
➤ Can visualize the system starting from various initial
conditions
➤ Even hard non linearities can be analyzed

➤ Limited to second order systems because of the

computational and graphical difficulties in dealing with the
higher order systems.
THE PHASE PORTRAITS
SINGULAR POINTS
Equilibrium points are points in state space
where the system stays for ever

Example:
CAN BE DONE FOR FIRST ORDER SYSTEMS ALSO
SYMMETRY IN PHASE PLANE PORTRAITS
symmetry of phase plane
portrait also implies
symmetry of slope - equal in
absolute value and opposite
in sign

Symmetry about x1 axis

Symmetry about x2 axis

Symmetry about origin

CONSTRUCTION OF PHASE PORTRAITS

➤ Analytical method

➤ Method of isoclines
ANALYTICAL METHOD

➤ Obtains a functional relationship between x1 and x2 in the

form

➤ First method solves and then

eliminate ’t’ from this.
➤ Second method directly eliminate ’t’ using the following
relation.
Example 1: Mass Spring System

Example 1: Satellite Control System where

Theorems connecting the Existence of Limit Cycle