On the Exact Linearization and Control of Flat Discrete-time Systems

Abstract

The paper addresses the exact linearization of flat nonlinear discrete-time systems. Two main questions are investigated: The first one is how to determine which forward-shifts of a given flat output can be chosen in principle as a new input, and the second one is how to actually introduce this new input by a suitable feedback. With respect to the choice of a feasible input, easily verifiable conditions are derived. Introducing such a new input requires a feedback which may in general depend not only on this new input itself but also on its forward-shifts. Hence, there occur similarities to the class of quasi-static feedbacks, which have already proven to be useful for the exact linearization of flat systems in the continuous-time case. For systems with a flat output that does not depend on forward-shifts of the input, it is shown how to systematically construct a new input such that the total number of the corresponding forward-shifts of the flat output is minimal. Furthermore, it is shown that in this case the calculation of a linearizing feedback is particularly simple, and the subsequent design of a discrete-time flatness-based tracking control is discussed. The presented theory is illustrated by the discretized models of a wheeled mobile robot and a 3DOF helicopter.