Tracking control of deterministic I/O automata

Abstract

A tracking control framework for plants modeled by deterministic I/O automata is presented. The control aim is to steer the plant into a desired final state while at the same time guaranteeing its adherence to some safety constraints. It is proposed to control the plant by a tracking controller which consists of a trajectory planning unit and a controller. The trajectory planning unit searches for a reference trajectory that leads to the desired final state and avoids illegal transitions corresponding to safety constraints. The controller, which is modeled by a deterministic I/O automaton, steers the plant along this reference trajectory. It is proved that the plant in the closed-loop system with the proposed tracking controller always fulfills the given control aim, if it is controllable, that is, if there exists a path leading to the desired final state in the automaton graph of the plant without the illegal transitions.