Nonlinear Control

Lecture # 1
Introduction

Nonlinear Control Lecture # 1 Introduction

Nonlinear State Model

x 1 = f1 (t, x1 , . . . , xn , u1, . . . , um )
x 2 = f2 (t, x1 , . . . , xn , u1, . . . , um )
..
..
.
.
x n = fn (t, x1 , . . . , xn , u1 , . . . , um)
x i denotes the derivative of xi with respect to the time
variable t
u1 , u2 , . . ., um are input variables
x1 , x2 , . . ., xn the state variables

Nonlinear Control Lecture # 1 Introduction

x=

x1
x2
..
.
..
.
xn

, u =

u1
u2
..
.
um

f1 (t, x, u)

f2 (t, x, u)

..

.
, f (t, x, u) =

..

fn (t, x, u)

x = f (t, x, u)

Nonlinear Control Lecture # 1 Introduction

x = f (t, x, u)
y = h(t, x, u)
x is the state, u is the input
y is the output (q-dimensional vector)
Special Cases:
Linear systems:
x = A(t)x + B(t)u
y = C(t)x + D(t)u
Unforced state equation:
x = f (t, x)
Results from x = f (t, x, u) with u = (t, x)
Nonlinear Control Lecture # 1 Introduction

Autonomous System:
x = f (x)
Time-Invariant System:
x = f (x, u)
y = h(x, u)
A time-invariant state model has a time-invariance property
with respect to shifting the initial time from t0 to t0 + a,
provided the input waveform is applied from t0 + a rather than
t0

Nonlinear Control Lecture # 1 Introduction

Existence and Uniqueness of Solutions

x = f (t, x)
f (t, x) is piecewise continuous in t and locally Lipschitz in x
over the domain of interest
f (t, x) is piecewise continuous in t on an interval J R if for
every bounded subinterval J0 J, f is continuous in t for all
t J0 , except, possibly, at a finite number of points where f
may have finite-jump discontinuities
f (t, x) is locally Lipschitz in x at a point x0 if there is a
neighborhood N(x0 , r) = {x Rn | kx x0 k < r} where
f (t, x) satisfies the Lipschitz condition
kf (t, x) f (t, y)k Lkx yk, L > 0
Nonlinear Control Lecture # 1 Introduction

A function f (t, x) is locally Lipschitz in x on a domain (open

and connected set) D Rn if it is locally Lipschitz at every
point x0 D
When n = 1 and f depends only on x
|f (y) f (x)|
L
|y x|
On a plot of f (x) versus x, a straight line joining any two
points of f (x) cannot have a slope whose absolute value is
greater than L
Any function f (x) that has infinite slope at some point is not
locally Lipschitz at that point

Nonlinear Control Lecture # 1 Introduction

A discontinuous function is not locally Lipschitz at the points

of discontinuity
The function f (x) = x1/3 is not locally Lipschitz at x = 0
since
f (x) = (1/3)x2/3 a x 0
On the other hand, if f (x) is continuous at a point x0 then
f (x) is locally Lipschitz at the same point because |f (x)| is
bounded by a constant k in a neighborhood of x0 , which
implies that f (x) satisfies the Lipschitz condition with L = k
More generally, if for t J R and x in a domain D Rn ,
f (t, x) and its partial derivatives fi /xj are continuous, then
f (t, x) is locally Lipschitz in x on D

Nonlinear Control Lecture # 1 Introduction

Lemma 1.1
Let f (t, x) be piecewise continuous in t and locally Lipschitz
in x at x0 , for all t [t0 , t1 ]. Then, there is > 0 such that
the state equation x = f (t, x), with x(t0 ) = x0 , has a unique
solution over [t0 , t0 + ]
Without the local Lipschitz condition, we cannot ensure
uniqueness of the solution. For example, x = x1/3 has
x(t) = (2t/3)3/2 and x(t) 0 as two different solutions when
the initial state is x(0) = 0
The lemma is a local result because it guarantees existence
and uniqueness of the solution over an interval [t0 , t0 + ], but
this interval might not include a given interval [t0 , t1 ]. Indeed
the solution may cease to exist after some time
Nonlinear Control Lecture # 1 Introduction

Example 1.3
x = x2
f (x) = x2 is locally Lipschitz for all x
x(0) = 1 x(t) =

1
(t 1)

x(t) as t 1
The solution has a finite escape time at t = 1
In general, if f (t, x) is locally Lipschitz over a domain D and
the solution of x = f (t, x) has a finite escape time te , then
the solution x(t) must leave every compact (closed and
bounded) subset of D as t te
Nonlinear Control Lecture # 1 Introduction

Global Existence and Uniqueness

A function f (t, x) is globally Lipschitz in x if
kf (t, x) f (t, y)k Lkx yk
for all x, y Rn with the same Lipschitz constant L
If f (t, x) and its partial derivatives fi /xj are continuous for
all x Rn , then f (t, x) is globally Lipschitz in x if and only if
the partial derivatives fi /xj are globally bounded, uniformly
in t
f (x) = x2 is locally Lipschitz for all x but not globally
Lipschitz because f (x) = 2x is not globally bounded

Nonlinear Control Lecture # 1 Introduction

Lemma 1.2
Let f (t, x) be piecewise continuous in t and globally Lipschitz
in x for all t [t0 , t1 ]. Then, the state equation x = f (t, x),
with x(t0 ) = x0 , has a unique solution over [t0 , t1 ]
The global Lipschitz condition is satisfied for linear systems of
the form
x = A(t)x + g(t)
but it is a restrictive condition for general nonlinear systems

Nonlinear Control Lecture # 1 Introduction

Lemma 1.3
Let f (t, x) be piecewise continuous in t and locally Lipschitz
in x for all t t0 and all x in a domain D Rn . Let W be a
compact subset of D, and suppose that every solution of
x = f (t, x),

x(t0 ) = x0

with x0 W lies entirely in W . Then, there is a unique

solution that is defined for all t t0

Nonlinear Control Lecture # 1 Introduction

Example 1.4
x = x3 = f (x)
f (x) is locally Lipschitz on R, but not globally Lipschitz
because f (x) = 3x2 is not globally bounded
If, at any instant of time, x(t) is positive, the derivative x(t)

will be negative. Similarly, if x(t) is negative, the derivative

x(t)

will be positive
Therefore, starting from any initial condition x(0) = a, the
solution cannot leave the compact set {x R | |x| |a|}
Thus, the equation has a unique solution for all t 0
Nonlinear Control Lecture # 1 Introduction

Change of Variables
Map: z = T (x),

Inverse map: x = T 1 (z)

Definitions
a map T (x) is invertible over its domain D if there is a
map T 1 () such that x = T 1 (z) for all z T (D)
A map T (x) is a diffeomorphism if T (x) and T 1 (x) are
continuously differentiable
T (x) is a local diffeomorphism at x0 if there is a
neighborhood N of x0 such that T restricted to N is a
diffeomorphism on N
T (x) is a global diffeomorphism if it is a diffeomorphism
on Rn and T (Rn ) = Rn

Nonlinear Control Lecture # 1 Introduction

Jacobian matrix

T1
x1

.
..
T
=
..
x
.

Tn
x1

T1
x2

..
.
..
.

Tn
x2

..
.
..
.

T1
xn

..
.
..
.

Tn
xn

Lemma 1.4
The continuously differentiable map z = T (x) is a local
diffeomorphism at x0 if the Jacobian matrix [T /x] is
nonsingular at x0 . It is a global diffeomorphism if and only if
[T /x] is nonsingular for all x Rn and T is proper; that is,
limkxk kT (x)k =

Nonlinear Control Lecture # 1 Introduction

Example 1.5
Negative Resistance Oscillator




z2 /
x2
,
z =
x =
[z1 h(z2 )]
x1 h (x1 )x2




T
h(x1 ) x2 /
h (x1 ) 1/
z = T (x) =
,
=
x1
1
0
x
det(T (x) = 1/ is positive for all x
kT (x)k2 = [h(x1 ) + x2 /]2 + x21 as kxk

Nonlinear Control Lecture # 1 Introduction

Equilibrium Points
A point x = x in the state space is said to be an equilibrium
point of x = f (t, x) if
x(t0 ) = x x(t) x , t t0
For the autonomous system x = f (x), the equilibrium points
are the real solutions of the equation
f (x) = 0
An equilibrium point could be isolated; that is, there are no
other equilibrium points in its vicinity, or there could be a
continuum of equilibrium points
Nonlinear Control Lecture # 1 Introduction

A linear system x = Ax can have an isolated equilibrium point

at x = 0 (if A is nonsingular) or a continuum of equilibrium
points in the null space of A (if A is singular)
It cannot have multiple isolated equilibrium points,
for if xa and xb are two equilibrium points, then by linearity
any point on the line xa + (1 )xb connecting xa and xb
will be an equilibrium point
A nonlinear state equation can have multiple isolated
equilibrium points. For example, the state equation
x 1 = x2 ,

x 2 = a sin x1 bx2

has equilibrium points at (x1 = n, x2 = 0) for

n = 0, 1, 2,
Nonlinear Control Lecture # 1 Introduction

Linearization
A common engineering practice in analyzing a nonlinear
system is to linearize it about some nominal operating point
and analyze the resulting linear model
What are the limitations of linearization?
Since linearization is an approximation in the
neighborhood of an operating point, it can only predict
the local behavior of the nonlinear system in the
vicinity of that point. It cannot predict the nonlocal or
global behavior
There are essentially nonlinear phenomena that can
take place only in the presence of nonlinearity

Nonlinear Control Lecture # 1 Introduction

Nonlinear Phenomena

Finite escape time

Multiple isolated equilibrium points
Limit cycles
Subharmonic, harmonic, or almost-periodic oscillations
Chaos
Multiple modes of behavior

Nonlinear Control Lecture # 1 Introduction

Approaches to Nonlinear Control

Approximate nonlinearity
Compensate for nonlinearity
Dominate nonlinearity
Use intrinsic properties
Divide and conquer

Nonlinear Control Lecture # 1 Introduction