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Pergamon 0005-1098(95)OOl22-0

Aulomafica, Vol. 31, No. 12, pp. 1893-1895, 1995


Copyright @ 1995 Elsevier Science Ltd
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Technical Communique
A Comment on A Time-varying Sliding Surface for Fast
and Robust Tracking Control of Second-order Uncertain
Systems*
ANDRZEJ BARTOSZEWICZt
Key Words-Variable structure control; sliding surfaces.
Abstract-In a recent paper, Seung-Bok Choi, Dong-Won
Park and Suhada Jayasuriya (Automatica, 30,899-904, 1994)
have presented a stepwise time-varying sliding surface for
variable structure control of a class of second-order uncertain
systems. As the surface does not truly guarantee insensitivity
of the systems to parameter variations and external
disturbances, in this comment we propose a continuously
time-varying surface that allows faster tracking and really
guarantees robust bebaviour of the systems.
1. I ntroduction
Seung-Bok Choi et al. (1994) considered a second-order
nonlinear uncertain dynamic system. They introduced a
time-varying sliding surface that is adaptable to arbitrary
initial conditions of the system. At the beginning, the surface
passes through the representative point specified by any
given or measured initial errors, and then the surface is
moved step by step to its predetermined, desired position.
Seung-Bok Choi et al. have shown that their variable
structure control scheme with the proposed surface
guarantees tracking time essentially shorter than conven-
tional VSC with time-invariant sliding surfaces. However, the
proposed scheme does not guarantee insensitivity to
parameter variations or external disturbances, and therefore
it does not allow one to enforce a desired dynamic behaviour
of the system. In the proposed scheme the sliding surface is
repeatedly, instantaneously moved: shifted or/and rotated.
As a consequence, after each movement of the surface, the
system representative point is no longer on the surface, and
the system is, at least for some time, not insensitive to
disturbances and parameter uncertainties. In other words,
after each instantaneous movement of the sliding surface, the
system is in the phase of reaching of a new surface-thus it is
not robust. Whether or not it actually reaches the new
surface before the surface is moved again depends on the
relation between dwelling time Ar, constants AL and Afs (all
three of them set arbityarily), current disturbance and
parameter variations.
In this comment we propose to substitute the stepwise
time-varying sliding surface (line) with a continuously
time-varying one. Then we introduce a modified variable
structure control law that satisfies sufficient conditions for the
existence of a sliding mode on our surface. Actually, to
achieve the sliding mode, we add to the control signal of
Seung-Bok Choi et a/.: a proportional term for rotated sliding
*Received 10 October 1994; revised 22 March 1995;
received in final form 26 July 1995. This paper was not
presented at any IFAC meeting. This paper was recom-
mended for publication in revised form by Peter Dorato.
Corresponding author Andrzej Bartbszewicz. Tel.
(48 42) 312554: Fax (4842) 312551: E-mail
~ndpb~rt@lodzl.p.lodz.pl.
t Institute of Automatic Control I-13, Technical University
of Lodz, 18/22 Stefanowskiego St.. 90-924 Lodz, Poland.
lines and a constant term for shifted ones. By this means, the
representative point of the considered system is forced to
stay always on our sliding line. Therefore the system is truly
insensitive to parameter variations and external disturbances;
hence its dynamic behaviour can be precisely predetermined.
We also avoid setting the constants AT, Ah, A& arbitrarily,
and, if required, we can further decrease the tracking time of
the system.
Finally, we point out a minor ambiguity in the illustrative
example presented by Seung-Bok Choi et al.
2. Continuously time-varying sliding surface
Consider a second-order nonlinear uncertain dynamic
system described by
i,(t) =X2(t),
J &(t) = 2 f;(x,(th x20), t) + 5 wtlgi(~Io), X20), 0 (1)
r=l i=,
+ W,(t), x20), OuW + 4th
with given initial conditions xl@,,), x2(to), where
Gai(t)gi(x,(t), x2(t), I ) and d(t) represent plant uncertainty
and external disturbance respectively. Let us denote the
tracking error by
e(r) = [e,(t) e2WlT = h(t) - xdlW 120) - h2WlT
and define the sliding line by
a(eW, t) =c(t)e,O) +e2(t) +a(t),
(2)
where c(t) =At +B and a(t) = Ct +D, with A, B, C and D
constant. Taking into account the function
V(c) = :02(e(t), t),
(3)
which is positive definite with respect to a, and provided that
uncertainties and disturbances are bounded,
( i )mi n 5 hi 5 (ai )max t (4)
YI 5 d(t) 5 ~2, (5)
the control law
u(t) =
[-(k + ,$ Ikfdxt 1)l) W ta) - ,$ ftx9 t, - ,$ Ei ( X9 t,
- cx2 + cxd2 + id2 - Ae, - C
I/
b(x, t), (6)
where
Zitx~ t, = zigi(x, t). di = l [ (ai )r ni n + (ai)msxl7
&qx, t) = a,g& t), lij = (aJmax - iii,
k>max(l~,l, Ir21)
(7)
1893
1894 Technical
- 1'
I
0 0.1 0. 2 0. 3 0. 4 0. 5 0. 6 0. 7
01
Fig. 1. Phase portrait for various sliding lines: (a)
conventional fixed; (b) stepwise shifted and rotated; (c)
continuously shifted and rotated.
ri = ati = u[Ae,(t) +c(t)e2(t) + P*(r) + C]
-(~&(X,f)/)sgn(o)+d(r)-ksgn(u)]<O (8)
negative-definite. Thus V is a Lyapunov function for the
system (1) with control (6), the sliding mode on the surface
(2) actually occurs, and the system is truly insensitive to
disturbances and parameter variations. Furthermore, since in
our algorithm the relation a(e(r), r) =0 holds for any r >to
when the parameters A, B, C and D are constant, the error
of the system is described by
e(r) =
[
e(r,,) +sr,, +s - $1 exp I- [$A(? - r;) +B(r - to)]}
C DC
--r---+-_.
c c c2
Equations (l)-(8) imply that if
- 0. 1'
1
0 2 4 6 6 10
Ti me [ s]
Fig. 2. Position tracking error for various sliding lines: (a)
conventional fixed; (b) stepwise shifted and rotated; (c)
continuously shifted and rotated.
Zommuniques
- 1'
0 2 4 6 a
Ti me [ S]
J
Fig. 3. Velocity tracking error for various sliding lines: (a)
conventional fixed; (b) stepwise shifted and rotated; (c)
continuously shifted and rotated.
(i) the parameters A, B, C and D are not actually
constant but rather piecewise-constant,
(i) the system is controlled according to (6), and
(iii) the system state belongs to the sliding line (2) at some
moment T,
then the condition for the state to belong to the line for all
subsequent times r >T is that at any moment when the
surface parameters A, B, C and D change, they do so in such
a way that the representative point of the system stays on the
line. An example of the surface with appropriate
piecewise-constant parameters is presented in the sequel.
To compare our algorithm with that presented by
Seung-Bok Choi et al. (1994), we considered the nonlinear
spring-damper system introduced in their illustrative
example. We used the same numerical values of all signals
and parameters that they did, and we simulated the system
controlled with the following continuously time-varying,
shifted and then rotated, sliding line: c(r) =c, =5, C =2,
D =-3.5 for r <r,, where r, is the moment when ez becomes
smaller than zero; A =5, B =-5r,, a(r) =0 for r, <r <r2
(i.e. after e2 becomes smaller than zero until the system
representative point (RP) reaches the predetermined sliding
line) and c(r) =cp =7, a(r) =0 for r >r2 (i.e. after the system
RP reaches the predetermined sliding line). The time
7-
6-
5-
4-
Q
3-
2-
l -
O-
1
-I!
J
0 1 z
^
J
A
4
c
J
Time [s]
Fig. 4. Variations of c(r) for various sliding lines: (a)
stepwise shifted and rotated; (c) continuously shifted and
rotated.
Technical Communiques
1895
- 4. - 4
- 5. - 5
- 6. - 6
_, - 6. 6026 , - 6. 9026
0 2 4 6 6 10 _,
0 2 4
Time [s]
6 a 10
Ti me [ s]
Fig. 5. Control signal of the algorithm with conventional
fixed sliding line.
Fig. 7. Control signal of the algorithm with continuously
shifted and rotated sliding line.
t,=--+lnfi=O.25055s has been determined by
differentiating (9) and equating it to zero, while t2 =
cp/A +t, =1.65055 s. Then we compared our simulations
with the results of Seung-Bok Choi et al. Figures l-7 show
that, with the same maximum value of input control signal,
our scheme guarantees faster error convergence and truly
robust behaviour of the system. Although it can be seen on
Figs 5-7 that none of these algorithms are free of chatter,
this issue can be addressed without difficulty, using for
example a boundary-layer controller. There is no trade-off
between robustness and covergence rate in our algorithm.
k=O. 301
- - - - - _
k&5
3. A remark on the illustrative example
The example presented by Seung-Bok Choi et al. (1994)
might suggest that their control law with dwelling time
A7=0.@2s makes the system insensitive to external
disturbances--see their Fig. 6. Actually, the reason why the
disturbances are not visible on the figure is that in the
example the control gain k =0.5 is use-d instead of k just
greater than 0.3, which would be satisfactory according to
their equation (7). Our Fig. 8 shows the phase portrait of the
system controlled according to Seung-Bok Choi et al., with
k =0.301 and k =0.5. It can be seen that k =0.301 does not
guarantee system insensitivity. This leads to the conclusion
that the system robustness was achieved in the example
partly by increasing the magnitude of the discontinuous
control gain and therefore also by increasing undesirable
chattering.
2 0.4-
0.2-
-0.4
0 0. 1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7
e1
Fig. 8. Phase portrait for stepwise time-varying sliding lines
with k =0.301 and k =0.5 (AT= 0.02, AL=O.O05, AL=
0.004).
4. Conclusions
-4.
-5
In this comment we have substituted the stepwise
time-varying sliding surface proposed by Seung-Bok Choi et
al. (1994) with a continuously time-varying one, and we have
proved the existence of a sliding mode on our surface. By
this means, we truly guaranteed insensitivity to disturbances
and/or parameter variations and we further decreased the
tracking time for a class of second-order nonlinear uncertain
dynamic systems. In principle, our surface is similar to that
proposed in the original paper. The difference between the
two surfaces lies in the way they are moved: our surface
moves in a continuous manner, as opposed to the surface
proposed by Seung-Bok Choi et al., which moves
instantaneously. In our algorithm the trade-off between
robustness and tracking time is eliminated.
-6
_7 -6.9026
0 2 4 6 6 10
Time (sl
Fig. 6. Control signal of the algorithm with stepwise shifted
and rotated sliding line.
Reference
Seung-Bok Choi, Dong-Won Park and Suhada Jayasuriya
(1994). A time-varvinp. slidine surface for fast and robust
tracking control -of - second-order uncertain systems.
Automatica, 30,89!%304.

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