Controller synthesis using bond graphs

The physical characteristics of the bond-graph representation are exploited for controller synthesis purpose. When the system under control possesses a specific cascaded structure, the theoretical results developed allow one to physically visualize the closed-loop system from the open-loop bond-graph model. With this visualization, it is possible to employ physical intuition to determine the desired closed-loop behavior that meets the performance requirement. Then the associated control law can be derived using a recursive backstepping procedure in a straightforward manner. Different from conventional controller synthesis procedure, in which systems are dealt with in mathematical domain, the approach proposed follows closely the physical aspect of system properties and control performance.