Why Nonlinear Control?

Recall that a linear system is a system that satisfies the superposition principle

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Examples of Linear Systems

1) Spring-Mass system

Force of spring

2) Electric Circuit

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Q: Are these systems really linear?

A: Usually, only for a limited range of operation.
For example, the force generated by a spring can be more accurately modeled by

Same thing holds for the components of the previous electric circuit. They are linear only for
certain values of voltages and currents. Beyond that one can see phenomena such as
saturation of the magnetic core of the inductor or punctures in the capacitor or ..

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Moral: Most systems are linear only for a range of operation.

(even those that we usually model as linear systems)
But, if this is the case, why do people use linear control????????
It turns out that, in many cases, the linear approximation turns out to be a good one.
Hence, you can pretend that your system is linear and design a controller using simple
techniques like the ones in EE 380, EE 482 or EE 580

Even in cases where the system is mildly nonlinear, one might be able to model it as a linear
system subject to uncertainty (unmodeled dynamics) and use robust controller design techniques
(EE 566) to design a controller that works.

uncertainty

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Hence we come back to the question: Why should we study nonlinear control????
It turns out that linear approximation (linearization) does not work well in all cases.

Since linearization is an approximation of the behavior of the system around an operating point,
it can only predict ``local'' behavior. In other words, it can only predict the behavior of the
system when its state is close to that point.

There are phenomena that are inherently nonlinear and cannot be described by linear
dynamics, even when the system is ``close'' to the operating point. Examples of this
phenomena are
1) Finite Escape Time:
The state of an unstable system goes to infinity only when time goes to infinity. However,
there are nonlinear systems whose state can go to infinity in finite time

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Example :
Consider the 1st order system

Eq.points
Linearization around eq. points

Linearization

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What about

Linearization only captures partof whatis happening

There are behaviors that cannot be explained by it.

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2) Multiple Equilibrium Points:

Back to linear systems

How many eq. points can we have?

A is invertible

A is not invertible
Null space of A
has an infinite (uncountable) numberof solutions
Isolated multiple eq. points cannot be modelled bylinear systems.

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Roller coaster

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