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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Cherenson, Daniel M., Panagou, Dimitra
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.07507
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author Cherenson, Daniel M.
Panagou, Dimitra
author_facet Cherenson, Daniel M.
Panagou, Dimitra
contents Many robotic systems are underactuated, meaning not all degrees of freedom can be directly controlled due to lack of actuators, input constraints, or state-dependent actuation. This property, compounded by modeling uncertainties and disturbances, complicates the control design process for trajectory tracking. In this work, we propose an adaptive control architecture for uncertain, nonlinear, underactuated systems with input constraints. Leveraging time-scale separation, we construct a reduced-order model where fast dynamics provide virtual inputs to the slower subsystem and use dynamic control allocation to select the optimal control inputs given the non-affine dynamics. To handle uncertainty, we introduce a state predictor-based adaptive law, and through singular perturbation theory and Lyapunov analysis, we prove stability and bounded tracking of reference trajectories. The proposed method is validated on a VTOL quadplane with nonlinear, state-dependent actuation, demonstrating its utility as a unified controller across various flight regimes, including cruise, landing transition, and hover.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_07507
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Adaptive Control Allocation for Underactuated Time-Scale Separated Non-Affine Systems
Cherenson, Daniel M.
Panagou, Dimitra
Systems and Control
Many robotic systems are underactuated, meaning not all degrees of freedom can be directly controlled due to lack of actuators, input constraints, or state-dependent actuation. This property, compounded by modeling uncertainties and disturbances, complicates the control design process for trajectory tracking. In this work, we propose an adaptive control architecture for uncertain, nonlinear, underactuated systems with input constraints. Leveraging time-scale separation, we construct a reduced-order model where fast dynamics provide virtual inputs to the slower subsystem and use dynamic control allocation to select the optimal control inputs given the non-affine dynamics. To handle uncertainty, we introduce a state predictor-based adaptive law, and through singular perturbation theory and Lyapunov analysis, we prove stability and bounded tracking of reference trajectories. The proposed method is validated on a VTOL quadplane with nonlinear, state-dependent actuation, demonstrating its utility as a unified controller across various flight regimes, including cruise, landing transition, and hover.
title Adaptive Control Allocation for Underactuated Time-Scale Separated Non-Affine Systems
topic Systems and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.07507