In this dissertation, four nonlinear controllers are proposed for different class of multi-input multi-output (MIMO) systems with matched and mismatched perturbations. All the plants to be controlled contains input uncertainty. The technique of the adaptive sliding mode control (ASMC) scheme is first introduced in order to solve the regulation or tracking problems. By applying adaptive techniques to the design of a novel sliding surface as well as to the design of sliding mode controller, one can not only enable the fulfillment of reaching mode in fi- nite time, but also suppress the mismatched perturbations when system is in the sliding mode. Secondly, the design methodology of block backstepping is proposed to solve the regulation problem in chapter 5. Some adaptive mechanisms are employed in the virtual input controller, so that the mismatched perturbations can be tackled and the proposed robust controller can guarantee stability of the controlled systems. All these control schemes are designed by means of Lyapunov stability theorem. Each robust controller contains two parts. The first part is for eliminating measurable feedback signals of the plant, and the second part is an adaptive control mechanism, which is capable of adapting some unknown constants embedded in the least upper bounds of perturbations, so that the knowledge of the least upper bounds of matched and mismatched perturbations is not required and can achieve asymptotic stability. Several numerical examples and industrial applications are demonstrated for showing the feasibility of the proposed control schemes.

A methodology of designing an adaptive sliding mode controller for a class of nonlinear systems with matched and mismatched perturbations is proposed in this thesis. A specific designed sliding surface function is presented first, whose coefficients are determined by using Lyapunov stability theorem and linear matrix inequality (LMI) optimization technique. Without requiring the upper bounds of matched perturbations, the controller with adaptive mechanisms embedded is also designed by using Lyapunov stability theorem. The proposed control scheme not only can drive the trajectories of the controlled systems reach sliding surface in finite time, but also is able to suppress the mismatched perturbations when the controlled systems are in the sliding mode, and achieve asymptotic stability. In addition, the proposed control scheme can be directly applied to a class of underactuated systems. A numerical example and a practical experiment are given for demonstrating the feasibility of the proposed control scheme.

In this thesis an adaptive backstepping control scheme is proposed for a class of multi-input perturbed systems with time-varying delays to solve regulation problems. The systems to be controlled contain n blocks¡¦ dynamic equations, hence n-1 virtual input controllers are designed from the first block to the (n-1)th block, and the backstepping controller is designed from the last block. In addition, adaptive mechanisms are embedded in each virtual input controllers and proposed controller, so that the least upper bounds of perturbations are not required to be known beforehand. Furthermore, the dynamic equations of the systems to be controlled need not satisfy strict-feedback form, and the upper bounds of the time delays as well as their derivatives need not to be known in advance either. The resultant controlled systems guarantee asymptotic stability in accordance with the Lyapunov stability theorem. Finally, a numerical example and a practical application are given for demonstrating the feasibility of the proposed control scheme.

Based on the Lyapunov stability theorem, a decentralized adaptive backstepping tracking control scheme for a class of perturbed large-scale systems with non-strict feedback form is presented in this thesis to solve tracking problems. First of all, the dynamic equations of the plant to be controlled are transformed into other equations with semi-strict feedback form. Then a decentralized tracking controller is designed based on the backstepping control methodology so that the outputs of controlled system are capable of tracking the desired signals generated from a reference model. In addition, by utilizing adaptive mechanisms embedded in the backstepping controller, one need not acquire the upper bounds of the perturbations and the interconnections in advance. The resultant control scheme is able to guarantee the stability of the whole large-scale systems, and the tracking precision may be adjusted through the design parameters. Finally, one numerical and one practical examples are demonstrated for showing the applicability of the proposed design technique.

Based on the Lyapunov stability theorem, a sliding mode control design methodology is proposed in this thesis for a class of perturbed switched systems. The control of the systems is rest restricted to switching between two different constant values. New sliding mode reaching conditions are proposed for the controllers so that the controlled systems can enter the sliding mode in finite time. Once the switched control system is in the sliding mode, the stability of the system is guaranteed by choosing a suitable sliding surface. In addition, a method for alleviating the infinite switching phenomenon is also provided in this thesis. Finally, a numerical and a practical example with computer simulation results are given for demonstrating the feasibility of the proposed control scheme.

Based on the Lyapunov stability theorem, a methodology of designing an nth order adaptive integral variable structure derivative estimator (AIVSDE) is proposed in this thesis. The proposed derivative estimator not only is an improved version of the existing AIVSDE, but also can be used to estimate the nth derivative of a smooth signal which has continuous and bounded derivatives up to n+1. Analysis results show that adjusting some of the parameters can facilitate the derivative estimation of signals with higher frequency noise. The adaptive algorithm is incorporated in the estimation scheme for tracking the unknown upper bounded of the input signal as well as their's derivatives. The stability of the proposed derivative estimator is guaranteed, and the comparison between recently proposed derivative estimator of high-order sliding mode control and AIVSDE is also demonstrated.

Based on the Lyapunov stability theorem, a design methodology of adaptive block backstepping control scheme is proposed in this thesis for a class of multi-input perturbed nonlinear systems with input nonlinearities to solve regulation problems. Fuzzy control method is utilized to estimate the unknown inverse input functions in order to facilitate the design of the proposed control scheme, so that the sector condition need not to be satisfied. According to the number of block m in the plant to be controlled, m−1 virtual input controllers are designed from the first block to the (m−1)th block. Then the proposed robust controller is designed from the last block. Adaptive mechanisms are also employed in the virtual input controllers as well as the robust controller, so that the least upper bounds of perturbations and estimation errors of inverse input functions are not required. The resultant control system is able to achieve asymptotic stability. Finally, a numerical example and a practical example are given for demonstrating the feasibility of the proposed control scheme.