Constrained robust sampled-data control for nonlinear uncertain systems

In industrial process control, computer control, which makes the closed-loop system a sampled-data one containing both continuous- and discrete-time signals, is widely used. In contrast with traditional approximation methods, sampled-data synthesis, a direct digital controller design procedure without approximation, has received increasing attention during the past few years. However, many of the existing results cannot be applied to sampled-data control design for the uncertain systems. In this paper, a result of robust asymptotic stability of sampled-data systems with constraints on the state is presented based on a result on practical stability for these systems. Then the robust sampled-data control for a class of uncertain nonlinear systems with constraints on the output is developed. The problem is formulated from vehicle steering control with constraint on the side slip angle of body. The result is described by some matrix inequalities which could be solved by an iterative algorithm based on the linear matrix inequality technique. Finally, a numerical example is presented to demonstrate the result. (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.