Finite-Time Stabilization of Linear Systems With Unknown Control Direction via Extremum Seeking

In this article, the finite-time stabilization problem is solved for a linear time-varying system with unknown control direction by exploiting a modified version of the classical extremum-seeking algorithm. We propose to use a suitable oscillatory input to modify the system dynamics, at least in an average sense, so as to satisfy a differential linear matrix inequality condition, which in turn guarantees that the system's state remains inside a prescribed time-varying hyperellipsoid in the state space. The finite-time stability (FTS) of the averaged dynamics implies the FTS of the original system, as the distance between the original and the averaged dynamics can be made arbitrarily small by choosing a sufficiently high value of the dithering frequency used by the extremum-seeking algorithm. The main advantage of the proposed approach resides in its capability of dealing with systems with unknown control direction, and/or with a control direction that changes over time. Being FTS a quantitative approach, this article also gives an estimate of the necessary minimum dithering/mixing frequency provided, and the effectiveness of the proposed finite-time stabilization approach is analyzed by means of numerical examples.