Optimal fixed-levels control for nonlinear systems with quadratic cost-functionals

Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. This paper is devoted to general optimal control problems (OCPs) associated with a family of nonlinear continuous-time switched systems in the presence of some specific control constraints. The stepwise (fixed-level type) control restrictions we consider constitute a common class of admissible controls in many real-world engineering systems. Moreover, these control restrictions can also be interpreted as a result of a quantization procedure appglied to the inputs of a conventional dynamic system. We study control systems with a priori given time-driven switching mechanism in the presence of a quadratic cost functional. Our aim is to develop a practically implementable control algorithm that makes it possible to calculate approximating solutions for the class of OCPs under consideration. The paper presents a newly elaborated linear quadratic-type optimal control scheme and also contains illustrative numerical examples. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.