Polytopic Robust Passivity Cascade Controller Design for Nonlinear Systems

The current paper proposes a cascade structure controller for use with finite-order input-affine nonlinear sys-tems with polytopic linear time-invariant (LTI) bounds. The controller is comprised of a Krasovskii-passivity based component, designed for polytopic systems, which guarantees closed-loop asymptotic stability of the nonlinear plant irrespective of the operating point, followed by a robust path-planning component for transient and steady-state performance, designed through
$\mu$
-synthesis. A step-by-step design methodology, along with the performance of the proposed approach are illustrated using a benchmark uncertain plant with nonlinear dynamics.