Disturbance observer based control for passive multi-actuator systems with aggregation and distribution

This paper presents a disturbance observer-based controller for a class of multi-actuator systems that possess passivity properties. By distributing the input and aggregating the output using the same vectors, the original plant is transformed into an aggregation-and-distribution plant (ADP), which is also passive. Based on the ADP, this paper derives the conditions for the controller to sufficiently ensure that the overall system has a finite L2-gain. The conditions can be checked via the passivity notation of several transfer functions. It is not required to establish the overall system's dynamical equation, thereby alleviating the design burden. The additional objective can be attained by performing an optimization on the aggregation/distribution vectors. Several practical applications are introduced as motivating examples, and the effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated by the integration of motion control and energy management for electric vehicles.