Contraction-based Tracking Control of Electromechanical Systems

Abstract: This paper addresses the trajectory-tracking problem for a class of electromechanical systems. To this end, the dynamics of the plants are modeled in the so-called port-Hamiltonian framework. Then, the notion of contraction is exploited to design the desired closed-loop dynamics and the corresponding tracking controller. Notably, the proposed control design method does not require solving partial differential equations or changing the coordinates of the plant, which permits preserving the physical interpretation of the controller. The applicability of the proposed approach is illustrated in several electromechanical systems via simulations.