From non-homogeneous stabilizing control laws to tracking of constrained discrete-time linear systems

A new tracking controller design path for discrete-time linear systems is proposed in this paper. It combines previous solutions based on interpolation methods and reference governors, yielding a tracking controller which exhibits the best qualities of the two approaches, i.e., local performance of the reference governor and efficient constraint avoidance of the interpolation based methods. As a result, the tracking control law can inherit non-homogeneity and discontinuity of the nominal stabilizing controller to achieve high-performance and still keep stability guarantees. The approach is illustrated on a buck power converter example, where the tracking control law is inferred from a non-homogeneous and discontinuous stabilizing controller.