Discrete-time setpoint-triggered reset integrator design with guaranteed performance and stability

According to Bode's gain-phase relationship, in linear time-invariant controllers, introducing an integral action to eliminate the steady-state error has an adverse effect of increased phase delay and overshoot, leading to performance deterioration. Moreover, increasing the bandwidth of the closed-loop system to enhance the low-frequency disturbance rejection invariably amplifies the sensitivity to high-frequency disturbances. Hence, the performance of the linear controllers is always limited due to these fundamental frequency- and time-domain limitations. Motivated by the desire to address the fundamental limitations of linear controllers and improve the time-varying closed-loop performance, we put forward a novel setpoint-triggered reset integrator strategy that varies the integrator cut-off frequency based on the setpoint information. Particularly, to tackle the time-varying disturbances and setpoint profiles, the proposed controller consists of a nominal linear controller and a variable-gain reset integrator. We show the global asymptotic stability of the proposed methodology using positive-real lemma along with the LaSalle's invariance principle and experimentally validate using measured frequency response function. Moreover, the efficacy of the proposed technique compared to that of the linear controller is experimentally demonstrated on a benchmark rotary servo system. Experimental results assessed using the tracking error and cumulative power spectral density substantiate that the proposed control strategy can not only improve the low-frequency disturbance rejection but also augment the high-frequency trajectory tracking performance.