Finite-Time Stability and Control

Finite-time stability (FTS) is a more practical concept than classical Lyapunov stability, useful for checking whether the state trajectories of a system remain within pre-specified bounds over a finite time interval. In a linear systems framework, FTS problems can be cast as convex optimization problems and solved by the use of effective off-the-shelf computational tools such as LMI solvers. Finite-time Stability and Control exploits this benefit to present the practical applications of FTS and finite-time control-theoretical results to various engineering fields. The text is divided into two parts:

· linear systems; and

· hybrid systems.

The building of practical motivating examples helps the reader to understand the methods presented.

Finite-time Stability and Control is addressed to academic researchers and to engineers working in the field of robust process control. Instructors teaching graduate courses in advanced control will also find parts of this book useful for their courses.

Francesco Amato was born in Naples on February 2, 1965. He received the Laurea and the PhD Degree both in Electronic Engineering from the University of Naples in 1990 and 1994 respectively. From 2001 to 2003 he was a full professor of automatic control at the University of Reggio Calabria. In 2003 he moved to the University of Catanzaro, where he is currently the Dean of the School of Computing and Biomedical Engineering, the Coordinator of the Doctorate School in Biomedical and Computer Engineering and the Director of the Biomechatronics Laboratory. Professor Amato’ scientific activity has developed in the fields of systems and control theory with applications to the aerospace and biomedical fields. He has published about 180 papers and a monograph with Springer entitled “Robust Control of Linear Systems Subject to Uncertain Time-varying Parameters”. More specifically, his main research interests concern analysis and control of uncertain systems, finite-time stability of linear systems, and, more recently, stability analysis of nonlinear quadratic systems. Roberto Ambrosino was born in Napoli, Italy, on June 30th 1982. He received the laurea degree (summa um laude) in automation engineering from the University of Naples Federico II in 2006. From January 2007 to December 2010 he was with Department of Technologies of the University of Naples Parthenope as a PhD student in information engineering. During the PhD, he was a visiting student at the Carnegie Mellon University of Pittsburgh, where his research activity focused on the development of sensors selection and distributed estimation algorithms. In March 2010 he won a position of "Ricercatore a Tempo Determinato” (short term contract as Assistant Professor) in Automatic Engineering at the University of Naples Parthenope for the period March-September 2010. Starting from December 2010 he has been an Assistant Professor in Automatic Engineering at the University of Naples Parthenope. His current research interests include estimation problems over wireless sensor networks with the development of sensor selection algorithms; analysis and control of finite-time stability of continuous-time, discrete-time and hybrid systems; robust stability analysis of uncertain systems using polyhedral Lyapunov functions. Roberto Ambrosino is author of more than 30 papers appeared on books, international journals and conferences. He served as reviewer for IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, Automatica, International Journal of Adaptive Control and Signal Processing and many international conferences. Gianmaria De Tommasi was born in Milano, Italy, in 1975. He received the laurea degree (summa cum laude) in electronic engineering from the University of Naples Federico II in 2001. Since 2002 he has been with the Department of Computer and Systems Engineering of the University of Naples Federico II, where he received the PhD in Computer and Automatic Engineering in 2005 and where he is currently Assistant Professor. He has been a visiting researcher at the JET tokamak (UK), where he has participated in the implementation of the extreme Shape Controller (XSC) project, and to Plasma Control Upgrade (PCU). He has also participated in the modelling activities for the Central Safety System and Central Interlock System at the ITER Organization (France). Currently, he is a Project Leader of the Current Limit Avoidance Implementation Project for the JET tokamak. His current research interests include control of nuclear fusion devices, fault detection for discrete-event systems, identification of discrete event systems modelled with Petri nets, and stability of hybrid systems. He has published more than 90 journal and conference papers.

Carlo Cosentino was born in Napoli, Italy, in 1978. He received the Masters degree (Laurea) cum laude in Computer Engineering in 2001 from University of Naple Federico II and the PhD in Computer and Automation Engineering in 2005, from the same university. From