Suboptimal Control of Unknown Second-order Nonlinear Systems with Guaranteed Global Convergence

Abstract: A suboptimal active disturbance rejection controller (S-ADRC) is proposed for second-order systems with unknown time-varying nonlinear dynamics. The output-feedback controller guarantees a global convergence to the vicinity of an optimal solution by means of dynamic control gains, based on the estimated main and extended state variables obtained through a high-gain observer. Three numerical examples compare the performance of the proposed control scheme applied to linear and nonlinear systems with that of a fixed-gain conventional ADRC as well as several model-based optimal and suboptimal controllers.