Abstract:

Constrained control is often applied to systems with redundant actuation. Often, the usage of a specific group of actuators is to be minimized because of its operating cost and/or undesired side-effects, and, sometimes, controllers for each single actuator may have been previously designed. Thus, for cost or organizational considerations, redesigning the entire control strategy may be impractical. Instead, a coordination scheme for regulating the interaction between the existing controllers while enforcing constraints and minimizing the usage of specific actuators can be developed. We propose a coordination strategy for the case when two groups of actuators, each with a non-modifiable state-feedback controller, are available. By using the maximum constraint admissible set for each controller in closed-loop with the plant, the coordination scheme modulates the action of the assigned controllers and minimizes the usage of the expensive actuators. The proposed control strategy enforces constraints, stabilizes the system, and uses the expensive actuators for finite time and only to avoid constraint violation.