A Nodal Link Perceptron Network with Applications to Control of a Free-Flying Robot

Tracking control of a class of nonlinear systems using a Perceptron Neural Network (PNN) with local basis functions is presented. The basic structure of the PNN and its main properties are first stated. A novel discrete-time control strategy is introduced that employs the PNN for direct on-line estimation of the required feedforward control input. The developed controller is then applied for end point tracking control of a nonholonomic (free-flying) robot. The simulation results of this application demonstrate a perfect tracking performance after the network is fully trained.