Fast control of linear systems subject to input constraints

Efficient design of high performance automatic control systems is extremely important for high technology systems. To get the best hardware cost-top-performance ratio, it is desirable to design a controller that takes full advantage of actuator capabilities, but this can lead to nonlinear behavior due to actuator saturation. The saturation nonlinearities in the system may have severe effects on system performance due to, for example, integrator windup. In this paper, a new design method is presented based on Lyapunov stability theory. By incorporating the actuator constraints directly in the design method, better utilization of the available control effort can be ensured in achieving desired system behavior.