Adaptive neural control of a class of uncertain state and input-delayed systems with input magnitude and rate constraints

Abstract

This article aims at proposing an adaptive neural control strategy for a class of nonlinear time-delay systems with input delays and unknown control directions. Different from previous researches that investigated delays and constraints separately, the novelty of this article lies in that it simultaneously considers delays (state and input delays) and input constraints (magnitude and rate constraints) for a class of uncertain nonlinear systems. In this article, the uncertain states and input delays are handled by integrating a constructed auxiliary system that functions as an observer with neural networks (NNs), with which the adverse effects caused by the uncertain states and input delays can be approximated and compensated. By involving smooth hyperbolic tangent functions in the designed auxiliary system, the problem of magnitude and rate constraints of the control input is fully addressed. Then, the backstepping technique runs through the entire control designing process, which allows the designed adaptive neural control strategy to handle the input constraints and delays at the same time. Furthermore, Nussbaum functions are employed to resolve the problem of unknown control directions. Due to the introduction of an input-driven filter, only the output of the system is required to be measured as the control feedback, which promotes the applicability of the designed controller. Under the proposed control scheme, semiglobal, uniform, and ultimate boundedness of all signals of the closed-loop system is realized with uncertain control directions, input and state delays, and guaranteed magnitude and rate constraints of control inputs. Finally, simulation results are illustrated to verify the effectiveness of the presented control method.