Backstepping - Recursive Control Design Overview

Recursive Control Design Overview

1. It is given that the smaller (i.e., lower-order) subsystem

   is already stabilized to the origin by some control where . That is, choice of to stabilize this system must occur using some other method. It is also assumed that a Lyapunov function for this stable subsystem is known. Backstepping provides a way to extend the controlled stability of this subsystem to the larger system.

2. A control is designed so that the system

   is stabilized so that follows the desired control. The control design is based on the augmented Lyapunov function candidate

   The control can be picked to bound away from zero.

3. A control is designed so that the system

   is stabilized so that follows the desired control. The control design is based on the augmented Lyapunov function candidate

   The control can be picked to bound away from zero.

4. This process continues until the actual is known, and
   • The real control stabilizes to fictitious control .
   • The fictitious control stabilizes to fictitious control .
   • The fictitious control stabilizes to fictitious control .
   • ...
   • The fictitious control stabilizes to fictitious control .
   • The fictitious control stabilizes to fictitious control .
   • The fictitious control stabilizes to the origin.

This process is known as backstepping because it starts with the requirements on some internal subsystem for stability and progressively steps back out of the system, maintaining stability at each step. Because

• vanish at the origin for ,
• are nonzero for ,
• the given control has ,

then the resulting system has an equilibrium at the origin (i.e., where, ..., and ) that is globally asymptotically stable.