Adaptive control for systems with time-varying parameters

This article investigates the adaptive control problem for systems with time-varying parameters using the so-called congelation of variables method. First, two scalar examples to illustrate how to deal with time-varying parameters in the feedback path and in the input path, respectively, are discussed. The control problem for an n-dimensional lower triangular system via state feedback is then discussed to show how to combine the congelation of variables method with adaptive backstepping techniques. To achieve output regulation problem via output feedback, problem which cannot be solved directly due to the coupling between the input and the time-varying perturbation, the ISS of the inverse dynamics, referred to as strong minimum-phaseness, is exploited. This allows converting such coupling into the coupling between the output and the time-varying perturbation. A set of filters, resulting in ISS state estimation error dynamics, are designed to cope with the unmeasured state variables. Finally, a controller is designed based on a small-gain-like analysis that takes all subsystems into account. Simulation results show that the proposed controller achieves asymptotic output regulation and outperforms the classical adaptive controller, in the presence of time-varying parameters that are neither known nor asymptotically constant.