Output feedback exponential stabilization of uncertain chained systems

This paper deals with chained form systems with strongly nonlinear disturbances and drift terms. The objective is to design robust nonlinear output feedback laws such that the closed-loop systems are globally exponentially stable. The systematic strategy combines the input-state-scaling technique with the so-called backstepping procedure. A dynamic output feedback controller for general case of uncertain chained system is developed with a filter of observer gain. Furthermore, two special cases are considered which do not use the observer gain filter. In particular, a switching control strategy is employed to get around the smooth stabilization issue (difficulty) associated with nonholonomic systems when the initial state of system is known. © 2006 The Franklin Institute.