On exponential stabilization of nonholonomic systems with time-varying drift

Abstract: A class of nonlinear control-affine systems with bounded time-varying drift is considered. It is assumed that the control vector fields together with their iterated Lie brackets satisfy Hormander's condition in a neighborhood of the origin. Then the problem of exponential stabilization is treated by exploiting periodic time-varying feedback controls. An explicit parametrization of such controllers is proposed under a suitable non-resonance assumption. It is shown that these controllers ensure the exponential stability of the closed-loop system provided that the period is small enough. The proposed control design methodology is applied for the stabilization of an underwater vehicle model and a front-wheel drive car.