DISCONTINUOUS CONTROL OF NONHOLONOMIC SYSTEMS

The problem of asymptotic convergence for a class of nonholonomic cont rol systems via discontinuous control is addressed and solved from a n ew point of view. It is shown that control laws, which ensures asympto tic (exponential) convergence of the closed-loop system, can be easily designed if the system is described in proper coordinates. In such co ordinates, the system is discontinuous. Hence, the problem of local as ymptotic stabilization for a class of discontinuous nonholonomic contr ol systems is dealt with and a general procedure to transform a contin uous system into a discontinuous one is presented. Moreover, a general strategy to design discontinuous control laws, yielding asymptotic co nvergence, for a class of nonholonomic control systems is proposed. Th e enclosed simulation results show the effectiveness of the method.