State and output feedback design for robust tracking of linear systems with rate limited actuators

A design technique (Control of Uncertain Systems with Bounded Inputs, Tarbouriech S, Garcia G, (Eds), Lecture Notes in Control and Information Sciences, vol. 227, Springer: Berlin, 1997; 173-186) recently proposed for stabilization of a linear system with rate-limited actuators is utilized to design feedback laws that cause the system output to track a desired command signal. This design technique combines two design techniques recently developed for linear systems with position limited actuators, piecewise-linear LQ control (Automatica, 1994; 30: 403-416) and low-and-high gain feedback (IEEE Trans. Automat. Control, 1996; 41: 368-378), and hence takes advantage of both design techniques, while avoiding their disadvantages. In the case that only the output is available for feedback, the performance of the state feedback law is preserved by the use of a fast observer. An open-loop exponentially unstable fighter aircraft is used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control design method.