Combined feedforward and model-assisted active disturbance rejection control for non-minimum phase system

Control of the non-minimum phase (NMP) system is challenging, especially in the presence of modelling uncertainties and external disturbances. To this end, this paper presents a combined feedforward and model-assisted Active Disturbance Rejection Control (MADRC) strategy. Based on the nominal model, the feedforward controller is used to produce a tracking performance that has minimum settling time subject to a prescribed undershoot constraint. On the other hand, the unknown disturbances and uncertain dynamics beyond the nominal model are compensated by MADRC. Since the conventional Extended State Observer (ESO) is not suitable for the NMP system, a model-assisted ESO (MESO) is proposed based on the nominal observable canonical form. The convergence of MESO is proved in time domain. The stability, steady-state characteristics and robustness of the closed-loop system are analyzed in frequency domain. The proposed strategy has only one tuning parameter, i.e., the bandwidth of MESO, which can be readily determined with a prescribed robustness level. Some comparative examples are given to show the efficacy of the proposed method. This paper depicts a promising prospect of the model-assisted ADRC in dealing with complex systems.