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International Journal of Systems Science

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Sliding mode control for a class of nonlinear discrete-

time networked systems with multiple stochastic
communication delays
a b c d a a
Lifeng Ma , Zidong Wang , Yugang Niu , Yumimg Bo & Zhi Guo
a
School of Automation , Nanjing University of Science and Technology , Nanjing 210094,
China
b
School of Information Science and Technology , Donghua University , Shanghai 200051,
China
c
Department of Information Systems and Computing , Brunel University , Uxbridge,
Middlesex, UB8 3PH, UK
d
School of Information Science and Engineering , East China University of Science and
Technology , Shanghai 200237, China
Published online: 05 Nov 2010.

To cite this article: Lifeng Ma , Zidong Wang , Yugang Niu , Yumimg Bo & Zhi Guo (2011) Sliding mode control for a class of
nonlinear discrete-time networked systems with multiple stochastic communication delays, International Journal of Systems
Science, 42:4, 661-672, DOI: 10.1080/00207720903171787

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 International Journal of Systems Science
Vol. 42, No. 4, April 2011, 661–672

Sliding mode control for a class of nonlinear discrete-time networked systems

with multiple stochastic communication delays
Lifeng Maa, Zidong Wangbc*, Yugang Niud, Yumimg Boa and Zhi Guoa
a
School of Automation, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China; bSchool of Information
Science and Technology, Donghua University, Shanghai 200051, China; cDepartment of Information Systems and Computing,
Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 3PH, UK; dSchool of Information Science and Engineering, East China
University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China
(Received 25 February 2009; final version received 29 June 2009)
Downloaded by [The University of British Columbia] at 11:47 20 November 2014

In this article, a sliding mode control problem is studied for a class of uncertain nonlinear networked systems
with multiple communication delays. A sequence of stochastic variables obeying Bernoulli distribution is applied
in the system model to describe the randomly occurring communication delays. The discrete-time system
considered is also subject to parameter uncertainties and state-dependent stochastic disturbances. A novel
discrete switching function is proposed to facilitate the sliding mode controller design. The sufficient conditions
are derived by means of the linear matrix inequality (LMI) approach. It is shown that the system dynamics in the
specified sliding surface is robustly exponentially stable in the mean square if two LMIs with an equality
constraint are feasible. A discrete-time SMC controller is designed that is capable of guaranteeing the discrete-
time sliding-mode reaching condition of the specified sliding surface. Finally, a simulation example is given to
show the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Keywords: discrete-time systems; nonlinear systems; networked systems; stochastic communication delays;
sliding mode control; robust control; asymptotic stability; networked control; time-delay systems

1. Introduction for a class of linear multi-input discrete-time systems

In the past few decades, the sliding mode control
(SMC) (also known as variable structure control)
problem originated in Utkin (1977) has been exten-
sively studied and widely applied, because of its
advantage of strong robustness against model uncer-
tainties, parameter variations and external distur-
bances (see, e.g. Utkin 1977; Chang and Wang 1999;
Wang and Chang 2000; Niu, Ho, and Lam 2005; Niu
and Ho 2006; Ho and Niu 2007).
In recent years, since most control strategies are
implemented in a discrete-time setting (e.g. networked
control systems (NCSs)), the SMC problem for
discrete-time systems has gained considerable research
interest. For example, in Bonivento, Sandri, and
Zanasi (1998) and Abidi, Xu, and Yu (2007), the
integral type SMC schemes were proposed for sample-
data systems and a class of nonlinear discrete-time
systems, respectively. Adaptive laws were applied in
Chen and Fukuda (1998) and Chan (1999) to synthe-
sise sliding mode controllers for discrete-time systems
with stochastic as well as deterministic disturbances. In
Cheng, Lin and Hsiao (2000), a simple methodology
for designing sliding mode controllers was proposed
with matching perturbations. Using a dead-beat con-
trol technique, Hwang (2002) presented a discrete
variable structure control method with a finite-time
step to reach the switching surface. In cases when the
system states were not available, the discrete-time SMC
problems were solved in Lai, Edwards, and Spurgeon
(2006, 2007) via output feedback. It is worth mention-
ing that in Gao, Wang, and Homaifa (1995), the
discrete-time sliding mode reaching condition
(DSMRC) was first revised and then a reaching law
approach was developed. It has proven to be a
convenient way to handle robust control problems
(see Xia et al. 2007; Yan and Shi 2008 for some latest
publications).
On another research front, the past decade has
witnessed a rapid development in network technolo-
gies, which have led to more and more control systems
whose feedback control loops are based on networks
(Nilsson, Bernhardsson, and Wittenmark 1998; Chow
and Tipsuwan 2001; Walsh, Ye, and Bushnell 2001;
Zhang, Branicky, and Phillips 2001). The usage of
networks in control systems has many advantages such
as low cost, reduced weight and simple installation.

*Corresponding author. Email: Zidong.Wang@brunel.ac.uk

ISSN 0020–7721 print/ISSN 1464–5319 online

 2011 Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/00207720903171787
http://www.informaworld.com
 662 L. Ma et al.
However, due to the complex working conditions and
limited bandwidth, there are certain limitations mainly
including the network-induced time-delays (also called
communication delays) and the data package loss,
which will inevitably degrade the system performances
or even cause instabilities. As a result, a great deal of
work has been done in order to eliminate or compen-
sate the effect caused by the communication delays
(Nilsson et al. 1998; Srinivasagupta, Schattler, and
Joseph 2004) and data package loss (Ling and
Lemmon 2003; Seiler and Sengupta 2005). Many
researchers have studied the stability and controller
design problems for NCSs in the presence of determi-
nistic communication delays. Recently, due to the
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random and time-varying fashion of the communica-
tion delays, they have been modelled in various
probabilistic ways (see Nilsson et al. 1998,
Srinivasagupta et al. 2004; Wang, Ho, and Liu 2004;
Zhang, Shi, Chen, and Huang 2005; Yang, Wang,
Hung, and Gani 2006), among which the binary
random delay has gained particular research interest
because of its simplicity and practicality in describing
network-induced delays (Wang et al. 2004; Yang et al.
2006).
In a networked environment, it seems sensible to
apply SMC strategies by taking the network-induced
phenomenon into account, in order to make full use of
the robustness of SMC against model uncertainties,
parameter variations and external disturbances.
Moreover, the model under consideration should be
more comprehensive to reflect the realities such as the
discrete-time nature, the state-dependent stochastic
disturbances (also called multiplicative noises or
Itô-type noises) and the multiple randomly occurring
communication delays. The possible combination of
SMC and NCS would clearly have both theoretical
significance and application potential. Unfortunately,
to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the discrete-time
SMC problem for networked systems has not been
fully addressed, not to mention the consideration of
stochastic delays and stochastic disturbances. This is
mainly due to the mathematical challenges in analysing
the reaching condition for the addressed discrete-time
stochastic systems. It is, therefore, the motivation of
this article to shorten such a gap by investigating the
SMC schemes for a broad class of networked stochas-
tic systems with communication delays.
This article aims to design a state feedback
controller, by using the discrete-time sliding motion
concept such that (1) the system state trajectory is
globally driven onto the specified sliding surface which
results in a non-increasing zigzag motion on the sliding
surface and (2) the robustly exponential stability of the
system is guaranteed on the specified sliding surface.
The main contributions of this article can be sum-
marised as follows: (i) a new network-induced com-
munication delay model is proposed, which is
mathematically more general and practically more
appealing; (ii) the state-dependent stochastic distur-
bances are taken into account and (iii) a new form of
discrete-time switching function is used, for the first
time, to deal with the SMC problem.
The rest of this article is arranged as follows.
Section 2 formulates an uncertain nonlinear networked
system with stochastic time-varying delays to be
studied. In Section 3, a novel switching function is
first designed and then a linear matrix inequality
(LMI)-based sufficient condition is given to obtain the
parameters in the proposed switching function to
satisfy the robustly mean square exponential stability
of the system dynamics in the sliding surface. An SMC
law is synthesised in Section 4 to satisfy the DSMRC.
In Section 5, an illustrative numerical example is
provided to show the effectiveness and usefulness of
the proposed approach. Section 5 gives our
conclusions.
Notation The following notations will be used in
this article. Rn and Rnm denote, respectively, the
n-dimensional Euclidean space and the set of all n  m
matrices and Iþ denotes the set of non-negative
integers. The notation X  Y (respectively, X 4 Y ),
where X and Y are symmetric matrices, means that
X  Y is positive semi-definite (respectively, positive
definite). E{x} stands for the expectation of stochastic
variable x and E{xjy} for the expectation of x
conditional on y. The superscript ‘T’ denotes the
transpose. diag{F1, F2, . . .} denotes a block diagonal
matrix whose diagonal blocks are given by F1, F2, . . . .
The symbol ‘ ’ in a matrix means that the correspond-
ing term of the matrix can be obtained by symmetric
property.
2. Problem formulation
Consider, on a probability space (, F, P), the
following uncertain nonlinear Itô-type networked
system:
8
>
> xðk þ 1Þ ¼ ðA þ DAÞxðkÞ þ BðuðkÞ þ f ðxðkÞÞÞ
>
>
>
>
>
> ~ þ DgðxðkÞ, xðkÞ,
þ Ad xðkÞ ~ kÞ!ðkÞ,
<
Xq ð1Þ
>
> ~
xðkÞ ¼ i ðkÞxðk  i ðkÞÞ,
>
>
>
> i¼1
>
>
:
xðkÞ ¼ ’ðkÞ, k ¼ dM ,  dM þ 1, . . . , 0,
 International Journal of Systems Science
where x(k) 2 Rn is the state vector, u(k) 2 Rm is the
control input, A, Ad, B and D are known constant real-
valued matrices with appropriate dimensions. !(k) is a
scalar Wiener process (Brownian motion) on (, F, P)
with
     
E !ðkÞ ¼ 0, E !2 ðkÞ ¼ 1, E !ðkÞ!ð j Þ ¼ 0 ðk 6¼ j Þ
ð2Þ
n n n happens frequently in reality. Using the algorithm
and g : R  R  N ! R is the continuous function,
and is assumed to satisfy
gT ðx, y, kÞ gðx, y, kÞ41 xT x þ 2 yT y, x, y 2 Rn , ð3Þ
where 1 4 0 and 2 4 0 are known constant scalars.
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The real-valued matrix DA represents norm-
bounded parameter uncertainty satisfying
DA ¼ HFE, ð4Þ
where H and E are known real constant matrices which
characterise how the deterministic uncertain parameter
in F enters the nominal matrix A. The matrix F, which
could be time-varying, is an unknown matrix function
meeting
FT F4I: ð5Þ
The parameter uncertainty DA is said to be admissible
if both (4) and (5) are satisfied.
The stochastic variables i(k) 2 R (i ¼ 1, 2, . . . , q)
in (1) are mutually uncorrelated Bernoulli distributed
white sequences taking values on 0 and 1 with
   
P i ðkÞ ¼ 1 ¼ E i ðkÞ :¼  i , ð6Þ
where  i (i ¼ 1, 2, . . . , q) are known positive scalars.
It is easy to see that
 
P i ðkÞ ¼ 0 ¼ 1   i ,
  ð7Þ
2i :¼ E ði ðkÞ   i Þ2 ¼ ð1   i Þ i :
In this article, we make the following assumptions:
Assumption 1: The parameter uncertainty DA and
unknown nonlinear function f(x(k)) are bounded in
Euclidean norm.
Assumption 2: The variables  i(k) (i ¼ 1, 2, . . . , q) are
time-varying and satisfy dm4 i(k)4dM, where dm and
dM are constant positive scalars representing the lower
and upper bounds on the communication delays,
respectively.
Remark 1: In Assumption 2, although the n time-
varying communication delays  i(k) are assumed to
have the same lower and upper bounds, they could
actually take different values at the same sampling
instant k. Such a description is suitable for networked
663
systems that have different communication delays when
the signals are transferred via different channels at the
same sample time k, which is very often the case in many
practical applications. On the other hand, the random
variable i(k) is introduced to characterise the phenom-
enon when the communication delays switch between
0 and  i(k) according to whether the network transmis-
sion conditions are excellent or not. Such a case also
developed later in this article, it is not difficult to
study a more general stochastic delay phenomenon, for
example, the case when stochastic communication
delays switch between certain intervals f~1 , ~2 , . . . , ~q g,
corresponding to different network transmission con-
ditions. To the best of our knowledge, the description
of stochastic delays given in this article is new.
3. Design of SMC
In this section, a switching function will be first
presented for the uncertain nonlinear networked
system (1) with stochastic communication delays.
Then, a theorem will be given in order to determine
the parameter appearing in the proposed switching
function to satisfy the robustly mean square exponen-
tial stability in the sliding motion. We will show that
the controller design problem in the sliding motion can
be solved if two LMIs with an equality constraint are
feasible.
3.1. Switching surface
To begin with, we choose the following switching
function:
sðkÞ ¼ GxðkÞ  GAxðk  1Þ, ð8Þ
where G is designed so that GB  is non-singular
and GD b ¼ 0, where Db :¼ Ad D . In this article, we
select G ¼ BTP with P 4 0 being a positive definite
matrix to confirm the non-singularity of GB.
The ideal quasi-sliding mode satisfies
sðk þ 1Þ ¼ sðkÞ ¼ 0: ð9Þ
Solving the above for u(k), the equivalent control law
of the sliding motion is given by
ueq ðkÞ ¼ ðGBÞ1 GDAxðkÞ  f ðxðkÞÞ: ð10Þ
Substituting (10) as u(k) into (1) yields
8
~ þ DgðxðkÞ, xðkÞ,
< xðk þ 1Þ ¼ AK xðkÞ þ Ad xðkÞ
> ~ kÞ!ðkÞ,
X q
>
: ~
xðkÞ ¼ i ðkÞxðk  i ðkÞÞ,
i¼1
ð11Þ
 664 L. Ma et al.

where AK :¼ A þ DA  B(GB)1GDA. The expres- matrices P 4 0, Qj 4 0 ( j ¼ 1, 2, . . . , q) and positive

sion (11) is the sliding mode dynamics of system (1) scalars " 4 0,  4 0 satisfying
in the specified switching surface s(k þ 1) ¼ s(k) ¼ 0. 2 3
11 0 AT P 0 AT P 0 0 "ET
Before stating the designing goal, we introduce the 6   Z
6 22
b T AT P  ZbT 0 0 0 0 77
following stability concept for the system (11). 6
d
7
6   P 0 0 0 PH 0 7
6 7
Definition 1 (Liu, Wang, Serrano, and Liu 2007): The 6     12  I 0 0 0 0 7
6 7
system (11) is said to be robustly exponentially stable 6 7
6     P 0 PH 0 7
in the mean square if there exist constants  4 0 and 6 p ffiffi
ffi 7
6      B T
PB 3 BT
PH 0 7
0 5  5 1 such that every solution of (11) satisfies 6 7
6 7
4       "I 0 5
EfkxðkÞk2 g4k sup EfkxðiÞk2 g, 8k50, ð12Þ        "I
dM4i40
5 0, ð16Þ
for all admissible parameter uncertainties.
DT PD 5  I,
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In this article, it is our objective to synthesise an ð17Þ

SMC law such that the state trajectory in (1) is globally b ¼ 0,
BT PD ð18Þ
driven onto the specified sliding surface, leading to a
non-increasing zigzag motion along the sliding surface where
in subsequent time and, at the same time, the system X
q
dynamics on the sliding surface is guaranteed to be 11 ¼  1 I  P þ ðdM  dm þ 1ÞQj ,
robustly exponentially stable in the mean square. j¼1
e1 ,  Q2 þ A
22 ¼ diagfQ1 þ A e2 , . . . ,  Qq þ A
eq , g,
ej ¼  i ð1   i ÞðAT PAd þ 2  I Þ,
A j ¼ 1, 2, . . . , q:
3.2. Performances of the sliding motion d
 
First of all, we introduce the following lemmas which b
Z ¼  1 I  2 I     q I :
will be used in this article. Proof: Let j(k) :¼ {x(k   j(k)), x(k   j(k) þ 1), . . . ,
Lemma 1: For any real vectors a, b and matrix P 4 0 x(k)} (j ¼ 1, 2, . . . , q) and define
of compatible dimensions,
n [ [ [ o [q
T T T
a b þ b a4a Pa þ b P b: T 1
ð13Þ XðkÞ ¼ 1 ðkÞ 2 ðkÞ  n ðkÞ ¼ j ðkÞ:
j¼1
Lemma 2 (Schur complement): Given constant matri-
Choose the following Lyapunov functional for
ces S 1, S 2, S 3 where S 1 ¼ S T1 and 0 5 S 2 ¼ S T2 , then
system (11):
S 1 þ S T3 S 1
2 S 3 5 0 if and only if
X
3
" #   WðXðkÞÞ ¼ Wi ðkÞ, ð19Þ
S1 S T3 S 2 S3 i¼1
5 0 or 5 0: ð14Þ
S3 S 2 S T3 S1 where
T
Lemma 3 (S-procedure): Let N ¼ N , H and E be real W1 ðkÞ ¼ xT ðkÞPxðkÞ,
matrices of appropriate dimensions, and F satisfy (5).
X
q X
k1
Then N þ HFE þ ET FT HT 5 0 if and only if there W2 ðkÞ ¼ xT ðiÞQj xðiÞ,
exists a positive scalar " such that N þ "HHT þ j¼1 i¼kj ðkÞ
"1 ET E 5 0 or, equivalently,
X
q X
dm X
k1
2 3 W3 ðkÞ ¼ xT ðiÞQj xðiÞ,
T
N "H E j¼1 m¼dM þ1 i¼kþm
6 T 7
4 "H "I 0 5 5 0: ð15Þ
with P 4 0, Qj 4 0 ( j ¼ 1, 2, . . . , q) being matrices to be
E 0 "I determined. Then along the trajectory of system (11),
The following theorem gives the sufficient condi- we have
   
tion in terms of LMIs with equality constraints for the E DWjXðkÞ :¼E WðXðk þ 1ÞÞjXðkÞ  WðXðkÞÞ
global mean-square asymptotic stability of system (11) 

¼E WðXðk þ 1ÞÞ  WðXðkÞÞ jXðkÞ
in the sliding motion.
X
3  
Theorem 1: The system (11) is robustly exponentially ¼ E DWi jXðkÞ : ð20Þ
stable in the mean square if there exist positive definite i¼1
 International Journal of Systems Science 665

From (11), we can obtain that Taking (21)–(28) into consideration and noting that
  
  G ¼ BTP, we have
E DW1 jXðkÞ ¼ E xT ðk þ 1ÞPxðk þ 1Þ  xT ðkÞPxðkÞ XðkÞ
  
¼ E xT ðkÞðATK PAK  PÞxðkÞ þ x~ T ðkÞATd PAd xðkÞ
~ E DW1 jXðkÞ

þ gT ðxðkÞ, xðkÞ,kÞD
~ T
~
PDgðxðkÞ, xðkÞ,kÞ 4xT ðkÞ 2ðA þ DAÞT PðA þ DAÞ
 
T T
þ 2x ðkÞA PAd xðkÞ
K ~ XðkÞ : ð21Þ
 ¼ B(GB)1GDA, by Lemma 1, we have þ 3DAT PBðBT PBÞ1 BT PDA þ  1 I  P xðkÞ
Denoting A
X q T
ATK PAK 42ðA þ DAÞT PðA þ DAÞ þ 2A T PA ð22Þ þ  i xðk  i ðkÞÞ ðATd PAd þ  2 IÞ
i¼1
and X
q 
 T PAd xðkÞ   i xðk  i ðkÞÞ
2xT ðkÞATK PAd xðkÞ
~ ¼ 2xT ðkÞðA þ DA þ AÞ ~ i¼1
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42xT ðkÞðA þ DAÞT PAd xðkÞ

~ X
q
T  T 
þ x ðkÞA PAxðkÞ þ x~ T ðkÞAT PAd xðkÞ:
~ þ 2~ i xT ðk  i ðkÞÞðATd PAd þ  2 IÞxðk  i ðkÞÞ
d
i¼1
ð23Þ X
q 
It is noticed from (3) and (17) that þ 2xT ðkÞðA þ DAÞT PAd  i xðk  i ðkÞÞ : ð29Þ
i¼1
T T
~
g ðxðkÞ, xðkÞ, ~
kÞD PDgðxðkÞ, xðkÞ, kÞ Next, it can be derived that
4max ðDT PDÞ gT ðxðkÞ, xðkÞ,
~ ~
kÞ gðxðkÞ, xðkÞ, kÞ  
 E DW2 jXðkÞ
 T T
~
4 1 x ðkÞxðkÞ þ 2 x~ ðkÞxðkÞ : ð24Þ (
X q
4E xT ðkÞQj xðkÞ  xT ðk  j ðkÞÞQj xðk  j ðkÞÞ
Introducing new variables by
j¼1
! )
~ i ðkÞ ¼ i ðkÞ   i , i ¼ 1, 2, . . . , q, ð25Þ Xm
kd 
T 
þ x ðiÞQj xðiÞ XðkÞ : ð30Þ
then, the mean and variance of ~ i ðkÞ can be easily i¼kdM þ1

obtained by
(
    X
q
E ~ i ðkÞ ¼ 0, 2~ i ¼  i ð1   i Þ: ð26Þ E DW3 jXðkÞ ¼ E ðdM  dm ÞxT ðkÞQj xðkÞ
j¼1
Therefore, ! )
Xm
kd 

    xT ðiÞQj xðiÞ XðkÞ : ð31Þ
~ XðkÞ
E x~ T ðkÞATd PAd xðkÞ i¼kdM þ1

 X
q T

Letting
¼E  i þ ~ i ðkÞ xðk  i ðkÞÞ ATd PAd
i¼1
 T
ðkÞ ¼ xT ðkÞ xT ðk  1 ðkÞÞ xT ðk  2 ðkÞÞ    xT ðk  q ðkÞÞ ,
X
q  

 the combination of (29)–(31) results in
  i þ ~ i ðkÞ xðk  i ðkÞÞ XðkÞ
i¼1  
E DWjXðkÞ 4 T ðkÞ ðkÞ, ð32Þ
X
q T X
q 
T
¼  i xðk  i ðkÞÞ Ad PAd  i xðk  i ðkÞÞ where
i¼1 i¼1 " #
11 12
X
q
 :¼ ,
þ 2~ i xT ðk  i ðkÞÞATd PAd xðk  i ðkÞÞ ð27Þ T
12 22
i¼1
11 ¼ 11 þ 2ðA þ DAÞT PðA þ DAÞ
and
   þ 3DAT PBðBT PBÞ1 BT PDA,
~ XðkÞ
E xT ðkÞðA þ DAÞT PAd xðkÞ
X q  12 ¼ 22 þ Z b þ 2  Z
b T AT PAd Z b T Z,
b
d
¼xT ðkÞðA þ DAÞT PAd  i xðk  i ðkÞÞ : ð28Þ
i¼1
b
22 ¼ ðA þ DAÞT PAd Z:
 666 L. Ma et al.

By the Schur complement, it is easy to see that If the optimal solution to problem (36) equals zero,
 5 0 is equivalent to the solutions will satisfy the LMIs (16)–(17), and the
equality BT PDb ¼ 0. Thus, the robustly mean square

2 pffiffiffi T 3 exponential stability of system (11) is achievable.
11 0 ðA þ DAÞT P 0 ðA þ DAÞT P 3DA PB
6 7
6  22 b T AT P
Z bT
 Z 0 0 7
6 d 7 4. Sliding mode controller
6   P 0 0 0 7
6 7
:¼ 6 7 In this section, by applying the definition of (DSMRC)
6     12  I 0 0 7
6 7 for discrete-time systems in Gao et al. (1995), we will
6 7
4     P 0 5
synthesise a sliding mode controller to ensure the
     BT PB DSMRC for system (1) with specified sliding surface
50: ð33Þ (9). In other words, the trajectory of system (1) starting
In order to eliminate the parameter uncertainty DA from any initial state will (i) be globally driven onto the
in (33), we rewrite  as follows: sliding surface (9) in finite time; (ii) stay within a
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specified band once it has crossed the sliding surface

b E
 þ HF
¼ bþ E b T,
b T FH ð34Þ the first time, and then cross the surface again in every
where sampling period, resulting in a successive and non-
2 3 increasing zigzag motion along the sliding surface.
11 0 AT P 0 AT P 0 First, based on the reaching law proposed in Gao et
6  22 b T AT P
Z  bT
 Z 0 0 7 al. (1995), we can easily check that the designing goals
6 d 7
6 7 (i) and (ii) are achieved if the following inequalities are
6   P 0 0 0 7
 ¼6
 7, satisfied:
6     12  I 0 0 7
6 7 8
6 7 > Dsi ðkÞ ¼ si ðk þ 1Þ  si ðkÞ4  i  sgn½si ðkÞ
4    P 0
 5 >
>
<  %i si ðkÞ if si ðkÞ 4 0
    BT PB
 ð37Þ
 pffiffi
ffi T >
> Dsi ðkÞ ¼ si ðk þ 1Þ  si ðkÞ5  i  sgn½si ðkÞ
b ¼ 0 0 HT P 0 HT P
H 3HT PB , >
:
   %i si ðkÞ if si ðkÞ 5 0,
b¼ E 0 0 0 0 0 :
E where  represents the sampling period, i 4 0 and
By Lemma 3, we can easily know that LMI (16) is i 4 0 are properly chosen scalars satisfying 0 5 1 
equivalent to  5 0 for some " 4 0, which means that i 5 1, (i ¼ 1, 2, . . . , m).
 5 0 can be achieved. Hence, for all (k) 6¼ 0, Since the parameter uncertainty DA and the exter-
E{DWjX(k)}4 T(k) (k) 5 0. Furthermore, from nal disturbance f(x(k)) are both assumed to be
Theorem 1 in (Liu et al. 2007), the robustly exponential bounded in Euclidean norm, Da :¼ GDAx(k) and
stability of system (11) can be confirmed in the mean Df :¼ GBf(x(k)) will also be bounded (Gao et al. 1995;
square sense. The proof is complete. œ Yan and Shi 2008). Denote
ia and
if as the i-th element
in Da and Df, respectively. Suppose the lower and upper
bounds on Da and Df are known and given as follows:
3.3. Computational algorithm
ia 4
ia 4
ia ,
Notice that the condition in Theorem 1 is given as the
if 4
if 4
if , i ¼ 1, 2, . . . , m, ð38Þ
feasibility problem of two LMIs (16)–(17) with an
equality constraint (18). Using the algorithm proposed where
ia ,
ia ,
if and
if are all known constants. Then
in Niu et al. (2005), as the condition BT PDb ¼ 0 can be denote
T bT T b
expressed by tr½ðB PDÞ B PD ¼ 0, we first present h iT
ia þ
ia
an inequality ðBT PDÞb T BT PD4
I
b which, by the Schur b
Da ¼ b
1a b

1a   b

m , b

ia ¼ ,
a 2
complement, is equivalent to
" # n o
ia 
ia
e
Da ¼ diag e

1a , e

2a , . . . , e

m e

ia ¼

I D b T PB a , ,
40: ð35Þ 2
BT PDb I h iT
if þ
if
Df ¼ b
b
1f b

1f   b

m
f , b

if ¼ ,
Then, the original non-convex feasibility problem 2
can be converted into the following minimisation n o
if 
if
problem: e
Da ¼ diag b

1 , e

2f , . . . , e

m e

if ¼
f , ,
f 2
min
subject to ð16Þ, ð17Þ and ð35Þ: ð36Þ i ¼ 1, 2, . . . , m: ð39Þ
 International Journal of Systems Science
Now we are ready to give the design technique of
the robust SMC controller.
Theorem 2: Suppose problem (36) is solvable. For the
uncertain nonlinear networked system (1) with the sliding
surface (9), where G ¼ BTP and P is the solution to (36),
if the SMC law is given as
667
polytopic parameter uncertainties, systems with sto-
chastic disturbances, or systems with more general
switching communication delays, within the same
established LMI framework. We could also use more
up-to-date delay-dependant analysis approaches to
reduce the possible conservatism without difficulty
 (see Liu, Wang, and Liu 2006; Wang, Ho, and Liu
uðkÞ ¼  ðGBÞ1 U  sgn½sðkÞ þ VsðkÞ þ GAxðk  1Þ 2003, 2005; Wang, Yang, Ho, and Liu 2006). The

reason why we discuss the system (1) is to make our
 GxðkÞ þ ðbDa þ b
Df Þ þ ðe
Da þ e
Df Þsgn½sðkÞ , theory more understandable and to avoid unnecessar-
ily complicated notations.
ð40Þ
with
U ¼ diagf1 , 2 , . . . , m g 2 Rmm , 5. An illustrative example
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  In this section, we present an illustrative example to

V ¼ diag %1 , %2 , . . . , %m 2 Rmm , i ¼ 1, 2, . . . , m:
demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed
then the DSMRC of system (1) with specified sliding algorithm.
surface (9) is satisfied. In other words, the design goals Consider the following nonlinear networked system
(i) and (ii) are achieved simultaneously. with communication delays:
8 02 3 2 3 1
>
> 0:15 0:25 0 0:01
>
> B6 7 6 7  C
>
> xðk þ 1Þ ¼ @4 0 0:18 0 5 þ 4 0:02 5 sinð0:6kÞ 0 0:01 0 AxðkÞ
>
>
>
>
>
> 0:03 0 0:05 0
>
> 2 3
>
> 0:10 0:02
>
>
>
< 6 7

þ4 0:07 0 5 uðkÞ þ f ðxðkÞÞ

ð42Þ
>
> 0:02 0:20
>
> 2 3 2 3
>
>
>
> 0:03 0 0:01 0:025 0:01 0
>
> X2
6 7 6 7
>
> þ 4 0:02 0:03 0 5i ðkÞxðk  i ðkÞÞ þ 4 0 0:03 ~
0 5 gðxðkÞ, xðkÞ, kÞ!ðkÞ,
>
>
>
> i¼1
>
> 0:04 0:05 0:01 0:04 0:035 0:01
>
:
xðkÞ ¼ ’ðkÞ, k ¼ dM ,  dM þ 1, . . . , 0:

Proof: By (40), with the switching function defined in ~

Let f (x(k)) ¼ 0.3 sin(x(k)) and gðxðkÞ, xðkÞ, kÞ ¼
(8), we obtain ~
0:5xðkÞ þ 0:5xðkÞ. In order to design the explicit SMC
controller, we suppose that GDAx(k) and GBf(x(k)) are
DsðkÞ ¼ sðk þ 1Þ  sðkÞ
bounded by the following conditions:

¼ GDAxðkÞ þ GB uðkÞ þ f ðxðkÞÞ

aj ¼ kGHkkExðkÞk, aj ¼ kGHkkExðkÞk,
 GxðkÞ þ GAxðk  1Þ
¼ U  sgn½sðkÞ  VsðkÞ þ GDAxðkÞ fj ¼ 0:3kGB sinðxðkÞÞk, fj ¼ 0:3kGB sinðxðkÞÞk:

ð43Þ
 bDa þ e
Da sgn½sðkÞ
 Assume that the time-varying communication
þ GBf ðxðkÞÞ  b Df þ e
Df sgn½sðkÞ : ð41Þ delays satisfy 24 i(k)46 (i ¼ 1, 2) and

Noting (39) and (40), we can easily arrive at (38).    

 1 ¼ E 1 ðkÞ ¼ 0:8,  2 ¼ E 2 ðkÞ ¼ 0:6:
Therefore, the DSMRC of (1) is satisfied. The proof is
complete. œ Then, we can obtain
Remark 2: We should point out that it is not difficult
2~ 1 ¼ 0:16, 2~ 2 ¼ 0:24:
to extend the present results to systems that include
 668 L. Ma et al.

1 2
x1(k) s1(k)
0.8 x2(k) s2(k)
x3(k)
1.5
0.6

0.4 1

0.2
0.5
0

−0.2 0

−0.4
−0.5
−0.6

−0.8 −1
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−1
0 20 40 60 80 100 −1.5
0 20 40 60 80 100
No. of samples (k)
No. of samples (k)
Figure 1. The trajectory of state x(k) ( ¼ 0.05).
Figure 3. The trajectory of sliding variable s(k) ( ¼ 0.05).
1
x1(k)
2
s1(k)
0.8 x2(k)
s2(k)
x3(k) 1.5
0.6

0.4 1

0.2
0.5
0

−0.2 0

−0.4
−0.5
−0.6

−0.8
−1

−1 −1.5
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100
No. of samples (k)
No. of samples (k)
Figure 2. The trajectory of state x(k) ( ¼ 0.005).
Figure 4. The trajectory of sliding variable s(k) ( ¼ 0.005).

Using MatLab LMI toolbox to solve problem (36), b¼ 0

and
¼ 3.707945  1012 (hence the constraint GD
we have is satisfied). Choose  ¼ 0.05 (and  ¼ 0.005 for
2 3 comparison), j ¼ 1 and j ¼ 1 ( j ¼ 1, 2). Then,
8:06501 0:0454 0:0401
P ¼ 4 0:0454 9:3349 0:0285 5, it follows from Theorem 2 that the desired SMC law
0:0401 0:0285 8:8057 can be expressed with all known parameters. The
2 3 simulation results are shown in Figures 1–10, which
0:6733 0:0485 0:0042
confirm that the desired requirements are well
Q1 ¼ 4 0:0485 0:5575 0:0028 5,
achieved.
0:0042 0:0028 0:6937
2 3 Remark 3: There have been many efforts made to
0:6007 0:0443 0:0025
eliminate the chattering phenomenon in the sliding
Q2 ¼ 4 0:0443 0:4840 0:0023 5,
surface when using the SMC method. Unfortunately,
0:0025 0:0023 0:3157 most of these methods are mainly concerned with the
 
0:8690 0:6574 0:1781 continuous systems. As far as discrete-time systems
G¼
0:1810 0:0048 1:7619 have been concerned, the chattering phenomenon
 International Journal of Systems Science 669

1 2
u1(k) Δ s1(k)
u2(k) 1.5 Δ s2(k)

0.5 1

0.5
0
0

−0.5
−0.5
−1

−1 −1.5

−2
Downloaded by [The University of British Columbia] at 11:47 20 November 2014

−1.5 −2.5
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100
No. of samples (k) No. of samples (k)

Figure 5. The control signals u(k) ( ¼ 0.5). Figure 7. The signal Ds(k) ( ¼ 0.05).

0.6 2
u1(k) Δ s1(k)

0.4 u2(k) 1.5 Δ s2(k)

0.2 1

0 0.5

−0.2 0

−0.4 −0.5

−0.6 −1

−0.8 −1.5

−1 −2
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100
No. of samples (k) No. of samples (k)

Figure 6. The control signals u(k) ( ¼ 0.005). Figure 8. The signal Ds(k) ( ¼ 0.005).

cannot be thoroughly eliminated since the sliding
motion of a discrete system is a ‘quasi-sliding motion’.
In this article, in order to decrease the magnitude of
chattering, we have tried several approaches, among
which the most effective way is to shorten the sampling
period (see the simulation in this section). From
a practical point of view, with fast development of
digital equipment, it is now not difficult to increase the
sampling frequency at a low cost. On the other hand,
we are now researching into a new method for
SMC of discrete-time systems, and our aim is to
restrain the chattering within a certain band theoreti-
cally. The corresponding results will appear in the
near future.
6. Conclusions
A robust SMC design problem for a class of uncertain
nonlinear networked systems with multiple stochastic
communication delays has been studied. By means of
LMIs, a sufficient condition for the robustly
 670 L. Ma et al.

10 Acknowledgements
τ1(k)
9 This work was supported in part by the Engineering and
τ2(k)
Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) of the UK
8 under Grant GR/S27658/01 the Royal Society of the UK,
the National Natural Science Foundation of China under
7 Grant 60674015, the Technology Innovation Key Fund of
Shanghai Municipal Education Commission under Grant
6 09ZZ60 and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of
Germany.
5

4
Notes on contributors
3
Lifeng Ma received his BS degree in
2 Automation from Jiangsu University,
Zhenjiang, China, in 2004 and his PhD
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1 degree in Control Theory and

Engineering from Nanjing University
0 of Science and Technology, Nanjing,
0 20 40 60 80 100
China, in 2010. From August 2008
No. of samples (k) to February 2009 he was a Visiting
PhD Student in the Department of
Figure 9. The time-varying delays  i(k) (i ¼ 1, 2). Information Systems and Computing, Brunel University,
UK. He is currently a Lecturer in the School of Automation,
Nanjing University of Science and Technology. His current
research interests include nonlinear stochastic systems, net-
worked systems, stochastic control and sliding mode control.
2 He is a very active reviewer for many international journals.
α1(k)
α2(k)
Zidong Wang was born in Jiangsu,
1.5
China, in 1966. He received his BSc
degree in Mathematics in 1986 from
Suzhou University, Suzhou, China,
1
his MSc degree in Applied
Mathematics in 1990 and his PhD
degree in Electrical Engineering in
0.5
1994, both from Nanjing University
of Science and Technology, Nanjing,
China. He is currently a Professor of Dynamical Systems and
0
Computing in the Department of Information Systems and
Computing, Brunel University, UK. From 1990 to 2002,
−0.5
he held teaching and research appointments in various
universities in China, Germany and the UK. Professor
Wang’s research interests include dynamical systems, signal
−1 processing, bioinformatics, control theory and applications.
0 20 40 60 80 100 He has published more than 100 papers in refereed
No. of samples (k) international journals. He is a holder of the Alexander von
Humboldt Research Fellowship of Germany, the JSPS
Figure 10. The Bernoulli sequences i(k) (i ¼ 1, 2). Research Fellowship of Japan and William Mong Visiting
Research Fellowship of Hong Kong. Professor Wang serves
as an Associate Editor for 12 international journals including
five IEEE Transactions. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE,
a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society and a Member of the
exponential stability of the system dynamics on the programme committees for many international conferences.
specified sliding surface has been derived. By the Yugang Niu received his BSc degree
reaching condition proposed in this article, an SMC from Hebei Normal University,
controller has been designed to globally drive the state Shijiazhuang, PR China, in 1986, and
trajectory onto the specified surface, which gives rise to his MSc and PhD degrees from
Nanjing University of Science and
a non-increasing zigzag motion along the surface. An Technology, Nanjing, PR China, in
illustrative numerical example has been given to show 1992 and 2001, respectively. His post-
the applicability and effectiveness of the proposed doctoral research was carried out in
method in this article. the East China University of Science
 International Journal of Systems Science
and Technology, Shanghai, PR China, from May 2001 to
June 2003. In 2002, as Research Associate, he visited the
University of Hong Kong for 3 months. In 2005 and 2006, as
Research Fellow, he visited the City University of Hong
Kong for 6 months. In 2001, Dr Niu joined the Department
of Automation, East China University of Science and
Technology, where he is currently a Professor. Dr Niu has
published more than 10 papers in the past 5 years in
Automatica, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control,
Systems and Control Letters, IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy
Systems, IEE Proceedings of the Control Theory and
Application and so on. His research interests include sliding
mode control, stochastic systems, networked control systems,
Markovian jumping systems, filtering, etc.
Yuming Bo received his BSc degree in
Automatic Control in 1984, his MSc
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degree in Automatic Control in 1987
and his PhD degree in Control Theory
and Control Engineering in 2005, all
from Nanjing University of Science
and Technology, Nanjing, China. He
is now a Professor of Control Theory
and Control Engineering in the School
of Automation at Nanjing University of Science and
Technology, Nanjing, China. His research interests include
stochastic control and estimation, computer communication
and programming. He has published more than 20 papers in
refereed journals and served as an Associate Editor for two
journals.
Zhi Guo was born in Liaoning, China,
in 1937. He is currently a Professor of
the School of Automation, Nanjing
University of Science and Technology,
Nanjing, China. His current research
interests include stochastic systems,
opportunity-awaiting control, satis-
factory control and filtering.
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