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This paper presents an overview and comparative study of the state of the art in State-Order Reduction (SOR) and Scheduling Dimension Reduction (SDR) for Linear Parameter-Varying (LPV) State-Space (SS) models, comparing and benchmarking their capabilities, limitations and performance. The use case chosen for these studies is an interconnected network of nonlinear coupled mass spring damper systems with three different configurations, where some spring coefficients are described by arbitrary user-defined static nonlinear functions. For SOR, the following methods are compared: Linear Time-Invariant (LTI), LPV and LFR-based balanced reductions, moment matching and parameter-varying oblique projection. For SDR, the following methods are compared: Principal Component Analysis (PCA), trajectory PCA, Kernel PCA and LTI balanced truncation, autoencoders and deep neural network. The comparison reveals the most suitable reduction methods for the different benchmark configurations, from which we provide use case SOR and SDR guidelines that can be used to choose the best reduction method for a given LPV-SS model.

In this study, we are concerned with nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) schemes that, through the linear parameter-varying (LPV) formulation, nonlinear systems can be embedded and with a sequential quadratic program (SQP) can provide efficient solutions for the NMPC. We revisit the different constrained optimization formulations known as simultaneous and sequential approaches tailored with the LPV predictor, constituting, in general, a nonlinear program (NLP). The derived NLPs are represented through the Lagrangian formulation, which enforces the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) optimality conditions for the optimization problem to be solvable. The main novelty suggests that the problem can still be efficiently solvable with a significantly lower computational load by approximating certain terms to reduce the computational burden. The proposed method is compared with other state-of-the-art approaches on standard performance measures. Moreover, we provide convergence analysis that can assert further theoretical guarantees in control, such as stability and recursive feasibility. Finally, the method is tested through well-studied control benchmarks such as the forced Van der Pol oscillator and the dynamic unicycle., Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures

Polytopic autoencoders provide low-dimensional parametrizations of states in a polytope. For nonlinear PDEs, this is readily applied to low-dimensional linear parameter-varying (LPV) approximations as they have been exploited for efficient nonlinear controller design via series expansions of the solution to the state-dependent Riccati equation. In this work, we develop a polytopic autoencoder for control applications and show how it outperforms standard linear approaches in view of LPV approximations of nonlinear systems and how the particular architecture enables higher order series expansions at little extra computational effort. We illustrate the properties and potentials of this approach to computational nonlinear controller design for large-scale systems with a thorough numerical study., Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables

Linear Parameter Varying Dynamical Systems (LPV-DS) encode trajectories into an autonomous first-order DS that enables reactive responses to perturbations, while ensuring globally asymptotic stability at the target. However, the current LPV-DS framework is established on Euclidean data only and has not been applicable to broader robotic applications requiring pose control. In this paper we present an extension to the current LPV-DS framework, named Quaternion-DS, which efficiently learns a DS-based motion policy for orientation. Leveraging techniques from differential geometry and Riemannian statistics, our approach properly handles the non-Euclidean orientation data in quaternion space, enabling the integration with positional control, namely SE(3) LPV-DS, so that the synergistic behaviour within the full SE(3) pose is preserved. Through simulation and real robot experiments, we validate our method, demonstrating its ability to efficiently and accurately reproduce the original SE(3) trajectory while exhibiting strong robustness to perturbations in task space.

Battery thermal management system is an indispensable part of the electric vehicles working with Lithium-ion batteries. Accordingly, lithium-ion batteries modeling, battery heat generation, and thermal management are the main focus of researchers and car manufacturers. To fulfill the need of manufacturers in the design process, a faster model than time-consuming Computational Fluid Dynamics models (CFD) is required. Reduced Order Models (ROM) address this requirement to maintain the accuracy of CFD models while could be compiled faster. Linear Time Invariant (LTI) reduced order model has been used in the literature; however, due to the limitation of LTI system, considering the constant flow rate for the cooling fluid, a Linear Parameter Varying system with three scheduling parameters was developed in this study. It is shown that LPV system results could fit accurately to CFD results in conditions that LTI system cannot maintain accuracy. Moreover, it is shown that applying varying water flow rates could result in a smoother temperature profile.

In this study, we implement a control method for stabilizing a ballbot that simultaneously follows a reference. A ballbot is a robot balancing on a spherical wheel where the single point of contact with the ground makes it omnidirectional and highly maneuverable but with inherent instability. After introducing the scheduling parameters, we start the analysis by embedding the nonlinear dynamic model derived from first principles to a linear parameter-varying (LPV) formulation. Continuously, and as an extension of a past study, we refine the parameters of the nonlinear model that enhance significantly its accuracy. The crucial advantages of the LPV formulation are that it consists of a nonlinear predictor that can be used in model predictive control (MPC) by retaining the convexity of the quadratic optimization problem with linear constraints and further evades computational burdens that appear in other nonlinear MPC methods with only a slight loss in performance. The LPVMPC control method can be solved efficiently as a quadratic program (QP) that provides timing that supports real-time implementation. Finally, to illustrate the method, we test the control designs on a two-set point 1D non-smooth reference with sudden changes, to a 2D nonstationary smooth reference known as Lissajous curves, and to a single-set point 1D non-smooth reference where for this case theoretical guarantees such as stability and recursive feasibility are provided., Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures

Blind System Identification (BSI) is used to extract a system model whenever input data is not attainable. Therefore, the input data and system model should be estimated simultaneously. Because of nonlinearities in a large number of systems, BSI problem is usually challenging to solve. In this paper, an innovative solution is proposed to deal with the BSI problem in nonlinear systems using the properties of the Linear Parameter-Varying (LPV) systems and Hidden Markov Models (HMM). More specifically, assuming scheduling variable is not measurable, the dynamic of the LPV system is approximated. To solve the BSI problem in this context, LPV structure is modeled as an HMM network and a modified Quasi-Static combination of Viterbi and Baum-Welch algorithms (QSVBW) is proposed to estimate the nonlinear mappings and scheduling variable signal. The applicability and the performance of the suggested QSVBW algorithm has been justified by numerical studies.

In this paper, we consider the learning of a Reduced-Order Linear Parameter-Varying Model (ROLPVM) of a nonlinear dynamical system based on data. This is achieved by a two-step procedure. In the first step, we learn a projection to a lower dimensional state-space. In step two, an LPV model is learned on the reduced-order state-space using a novel, efficient parameterization in terms of neural networks. The improved modeling accuracy of the method compared to an existing method is demonstrated by simulation examples., Comment: Accepted to the 20th IFAC Symposium on System Identification (SYSID 2024)

By means of the linear parameter-varying (LPV) Fundamental Lemma, we derive novel data-driven predictive control (DPC) methods for LPV systems. In particular, we present output-feedback and state-feedback-based LPV-DPC methods with terminal ingredients, which guarantee exponential stability and recursive feasibility. We provide methods for the data-based computation of these terminal ingredients. Furthermore, an in-depth analysis of the application and implementation aspects of the LPV-DPC schemes is given, including application for nonlinear systems and handling noisy data. We compare and demonstrate the performance of the proposed methods in a detailed simulation example involving a nonlinear unbalanced disc system., Comment: Submitted to IEEE-TAC. Extended version. 18 pages

This paper discusses a framework to design elements of the plant and control systems for floating offshore wind turbines in an integrated manner using linear parameter-varying models. Multiple linearized models derived from aeroelastic simulation software in different operating regions characterized by the incoming wind speed are combined to construct an approximate low-fidelity model of the system. The combined model is then used to generate open-loop, optimal control trajectories as part of a nested control co-design strategy that explores the system's power production and stability using the platform pitch tilt as a proxy in the context of crucial plant and control design decisions. The radial distance between the central and outer columns and the diameter of the outer columns of the semisubmersible platform are the plant design variables. The platform stability and power production are studied for different plant design decisions. The effect of plant decisions on subsequent power production and stability response of the floating wind turbine is quantified in terms of the levelized cost of energy. The results show that the inner-loop constraints and the plant design decisions affect the turbine's power and, subsequently, the cost of the system., Comment: 16 pages 47 figures

Ducted fan lift systems (DFLSs) powered by two-stroke aviation piston engines present a challenging control problem due to their complex multivariable dynamics. Current controllers for these systems typically rely on proportional-integral algorithms combined with data tables, which rely on accurate models and are not adaptive to handle time-varying dynamics or system uncertainties. This paper proposes a novel adaptive model predictive control (AMPC) strategy with an associated linear parameter varying (LPV) model for controlling the engine-driven DFLS. This LPV model is derived from a global network model, which is trained off-line with data obtained from a general mean value engine model for two-stroke aviation engines. Different network models, including multi-layer perceptron, Elman, and radial basis function (RBF), are evaluated and compared in this study. The results demonstrate that the RBF model exhibits higher prediction accuracy and robustness in the DFLS application. Based on the trained RBF model, the proposed AMPC approach constructs an associated network that directly outputs the LPV model parameters as an adaptive, robust, and efficient prediction model. The efficiency of the proposed approach is demonstrated through numerical simulations of a vertical take-off thrust preparation process for the DFLS. The simulation results indicate that the proposed AMPC method can effectively control the DFLS thrust with a relative error below 3.5%.

We present a data-driven method to synthesize robust control invariant (RCI) sets for linear parameter-varying (LPV) systems subject to unknown but bounded disturbances. A finite-length data set consisting of state, input, and scheduling signal measurements is used to compute an RCI set and invariance-inducing controller, without identifying an LPV model of the system. We parameterize the RCI set as a configuration-constrained polytope whose facets have a fixed orientation and variable offset. This allows us to define the vertices of the polytopic set in terms of its offset. By exploiting this property, an RCI set and associated vertex control inputs are computed by solving a single linear programming (LP) problem, formulated based on a data-based invariance condition and system constraints. We illustrate the effectiveness of our approach via two numerical examples. The proposed method can generate RCI sets that are of comparable size to those obtained by a model-based method in which exact knowledge of the system matrices is assumed. We show that RCI sets can be synthesized even with a relatively small number of data samples, if the gathered data satisfy certain excitation conditions., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables

The Linear Parameter Varying Dynamical System (LPV-DS) is an effective approach that learns stable, time-invariant motion policies using statistical modeling and semi-definite optimization to encode complex motions for reactive robot control. Despite its strengths, the LPV-DS learning approach faces challenges in achieving a high model accuracy without compromising the computational efficiency. To address this, we introduce the Directionality-Aware Mixture Model (DAMM), a novel statistical model that applies the Riemannian metric on the n-sphere $\mathbb{S}^n$ to efficiently blend non-Euclidean directional data with $\mathbb{R}^m$ Euclidean states. Additionally, we develop a hybrid Markov chain Monte Carlo technique that combines Gibbs Sampling with Split/Merge Proposal, allowing for parallel computation to drastically speed up inference. Our extensive empirical tests demonstrate that LPV-DS integrated with DAMM achieves higher reproduction accuracy, better model efficiency, and near real-time/online learning compared to standard estimation methods on various datasets. Lastly, we demonstrate its suitability for incrementally learning multi-behavior policies in real-world robot experiments.

We present a direct data-driven approach to synthesize robust control invariant (RCI) sets and their associated gain-scheduled feedback control laws for linear parameter-varying (LPV) systems subjected to bounded disturbances. A data-set consisting of a single state-input-scheduling trajectory is gathered from the system, which is directly utilized to compute polytopic RCI set and controllers by solving a semidefinite program. The proposed method does not require an intermediate LPV model identification step. Through a numerical example, we show that the proposed approach can generate RCI sets with a relatively small number of data samples when the data satisfies certain excitation conditions., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication, IEEE Control System Letters (LCSS) 2023

The control of nonlinear large-scale dynamical models such as the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations is a challenging task. The computational challenges in the controller design come from both the possibly large state space and the nonlinear dynamics. A general purpose approach certainly will resort to numerical linear algebra techniques which can handle large system sizes or to model order reduction. In this work we propose a two-folded model reduction approach tailored to nonlinear controller design for incompressible Navier-Stokes equations and similar PDE models that come with quadratic nonlinearities. Firstly, we approximate the nonlinear model within in the class of LPV systems with a very low dimension in the parametrization. Secondly, we reduce the system size to a moderate number of states. This way, standard robust LPV theory for nonlinear controller design becomes feasible. We illustrate the procedure and its potentials by numerical simulations.

In a wind energy conversion system (WECS), changing the pitch angle of the wind turbine blades is a typical practice to regulate the electrical power generation in the full-load regime. Due to the turbulent nature of the wind and the large variations of the mean wind speed during the day, the rotary elements of the WECS are subjected to significant mechanical stresses and fatigue, resulting in conceivably mechanical failures and higher maintenance costs. Consequently, it is imperative to design a control system capable of handling continuous wind changes. In this work, Linear Parameter Varying (LPV) H_inf controller is used to cope with wind variations and turbulent winds with a turbulence intensity greater than 10%. The proposed controller is designed to regulate the rotational rotor speed and generator torque, thus, regulating the output power via pitch angle manipulations. In addition, a PI-Fuzzy control system is designed to be compared with the proposed control system. The closed-loop simulations of both controllers established the robustness and stability of the suggested LPV controller under large wind velocity variations, with minute power fluctuations compared to the PI-Fuzzy controller. The results show that in the presence of turbulent wind speed variations, the proposed LPV controller achieves improved transient and steady-state performance along with reduced mechanical loads in the above-rated wind speed region., Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures

We consider the problem of learning Neural Ordinary Differential Equations (neural ODEs) within the context of Linear Parameter-Varying (LPV) systems in continuous-time. LPV systems contain bilinear systems which are known to be universal approximators for non-linear systems. Moreover, a large class of neural ODEs can be embedded into LPV systems. As our main contribution we provide Probably Approximately Correct (PAC) bounds under stability for LPV systems related to neural ODEs. The resulting bounds have the advantage that they do not depend on the integration interval., Comment: 12 pages

Recent literature has shown how linear time-invariant (LTI) systems can be represented by trajectories features, that is relying on a single input-output (IO) data dictionary to span all possible system trajectories, as long as the input is persistently exciting. The so-called behavioural framework is a promising alternative for controller synthesis without the necessity of system identification. In this paper, we benefit from differential inclusion in order to adapt previous results to the case quasi-Linear Parameter Varying (qLPV) embeddings, which are use to represent nonlinear dynamical systems along suitable IO coordinates. Accordingly, we propose a set of data-driven analysis tools for a wide class of nonlinear systems, which enable nonlinear data-driven simulation and predictions. Furthermore, a parameter-dependent dissipativity analysis verification setup is also presented, which serves to assess stability of the system within a bounded operation region. The major requirement is that there should exist a scheduling function which maps the nonlinear outputs into a finite number of scheduling variables, and this function should be analytically known. The effectiveness of the proposed tools is tested in practice and shown to provide accurate descriptions of the nonlinear dynamics by the means of a linear representation structure. For such, we consider a high-fidelity nonlinear simulator of a rotational pendulum benchmark simulator and an electro-mechanical positioning experimental validation test-bench. We also show that, even if the scheduling function is erroneously selected, the proposed framework is still able to offer a trustworthy representation of the output dynamics., Comment: Many changes are being performed on the manuscript. A revised version will be available soon

This paper extends recent results on the exponential performance analysis of gradient based cooperative control dynamics using the framework of exponential integral quadratic constraints ($\alpha-$IQCs). A cooperative source-seeking problem is considered as a specific example where one or more vehicles are embedded in a strongly convex scalar field and are required to converge to a formation located at the minimum of a field. A subset of the agents are assumed to have the knowledge of the gradient of the field evaluated at their respective locations and the interaction graph is assumed to be uncertain. As a first contribution, we extend earlier results on linear time invariant (LTI) systems to non-linear systems by using quasi-linear parameter varying (qLPV) representations. Secondly, we remove the assumption on perfect gradient measurements and consider multiplicative noise in the analysis. Performance-robustness trade off curves are presented to illustrate the use of presented methods for tuning controller gains. The results are demonstrated on a non-linear second order vehicle model with a velocity-dependent non-linear damping and a local gain-scheduled tracking controller., Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2206.04650

This paper presents two direct parameterizations of stable and robust linear parameter-varying state-space (LPV-SS) models. The model parametrizations guarantee a priori that for all parameter values during training, the allowed models are stable in the contraction sense or have their Lipschitz constant bounded by a user-defined value $\gamma$. Furthermore, since the parametrizations are direct, the models can be trained using unconstrained optimization. The fact that the trained models are of the LPV-SS class makes them useful for, e.g., further convex analysis or controller design. The effectiveness of the approach is demonstrated on an LPV identification problem., Comment: Accepted for the 62nd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC2023)

Nonlinear feedback design via state-dependent Riccati equations is well established but unfeasible for large-scale systems because of computational costs. If the system can be embedded in the class of linear parameter-varying (LPV) systems with the parameter dependency being affine-linear, then the nonlinear feedback law has a series expansion with constant and precomputable coefficients. In this work, we propose a general method to approximating nonlinear systems such that the series expansion is possible and efficient even for high-dimensional systems. We lay out the stabilization of incompressible Navier-Stokes equations as application, discuss the numerical solution of the involved matrix-valued equations, and confirm the performance of the approach in a numerical example., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures

We derive direct data-driven dissipativity analysis methods for Linear Parameter-Varying (LPV) systems using a single sequence of input-scheduling-output data. By means of constructing a semi-definite program subject to linear matrix inequality constraints based on this data-dictionary, direct data-driven verification of $(Q,S,R)$-type of dissipativity properties of the data-generating LPV system is achieved. Multiple implementation methods are proposed to achieve efficient computational properties and to even exploit structural information on the scheduling, e.g., rate bounds. The effectiveness and trade-offs of the proposed methodologies are shown in simulation studies of academic and physically realistic examples., Comment: Accepted in IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control

There is a growing interest in data-driven control of nonlinear systems over the last years. In contrast to related works, this paper takes a step back and aims to solve the output matching problem, a problem closely related to the reference tracking control problem, for a broader class of nonlinear systems called output-generalized bilinear, thereby offering a new direction to explore for data-driven control of nonlinear systems. It is shown that discrete time linear parameter-varying systems are included in this model class, with affine systems easily shown to also be included. This paper proposes a method to solve the output matching problem and offers a way to parameterize the solution set with a minimal number of parameters. The proposed model class and method are illustrated using simulations of two real-life systems., Comment: Submitted to ECC 2023

The framework of linear parameter-varying (LPV) systems has shown to be a powerful tool for the design of controllers for complex nonlinear systems using linear tools. In this work, we derive novel methods that allow to synthesize LPV state-feedback controllers directly from a single sequence of data and guarantee stability and performance of the closed-loop system, without knowing the model of the plant. We show that if the measured open-loop data from the system satisfies a persistency of excitation condition, then the full open-loop and closed-loop input-scheduling-state behavior can be represented using only the data. With this representation, we formulate synthesis problems that yield controllers that guarantee stability and performance in terms of infinite horizon quadratic cost, generalized $\mathcal{H}_2$-norm and $\ell_2$-gain of the closed-loop system. The controllers are synthesized by solving an SDP with a finite set of LMI constraints. Additionally, we provide a synthesis method to handle noisy measurement data. Competitive performance of the proposed data-driven synthesis methods is demonstrated w.r.t. model-based synthesis that have complete knowledge of the true system model in multiple simulation studies, including a nonlinear unbalanced disc system., Comment: 27 pages

This paper synthesizes a gain-scheduled controller to stabilize all possible Linear Parameter-Varying (LPV) plants that are consistent with measured input/state data records. Inspired by prior work in data informativity and LTI stabilization, a set of Quadratic Matrix Inequalities is developed to represent the noise set, the class of consistent LPV plants, and the class of stabilizable plants. The bilinearity between unknown plants and `for all' parameters is avoided by vertex enumeration of the parameter set. Effectiveness and computational tractability of this method is demonstrated on example systems., Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures