The role of vision as an additional sensing mechanism has received a lot of attention in recent years in the context of autonomous flight applications. Modern Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are equipped with vision sensors because of their light-weight, low-cost characteristics and also their ability to provide a rich variety of information of the environment in which the UAVs are navigating in. The problem of vision based autonomous flight is very difficult and challenging since it requires bringing together concepts from image processing and computer vision, target tracking and state estimation, and flight guidance and control. This thesis focuses on the adaptive state estimation, guidance and control problems involved in vision-based formation flight. Specifically, the thesis presents a composite adaptation approach to the partial state estimation of a class of nonlinear systems with unmodeled dynamics. In this approach, a linear time-varying Kalman filter is the nominal state estimator which is augmented by the output of an adaptive neural network (NN) that is trained with two error signals. The benefit of the proposed approach is in its faster and more accurate adaptation to the modeling errors over a conventional approach. The thesis also presents two approaches to the design of adaptive guidance and control (G&C) laws for line-of-sight formation flight. In the first approach, the guidance and autopilot systems are designed separately and then combined together by assuming time-scale separation. The second approach is based on integrating the guidance and autopilot design process. The developed G&C laws using both approaches are adaptive to unmodeled leader aircraft acceleration and to own aircraft aerodynamic uncertainties. The thesis also presents theoretical justification based on Lyapunov-like stability analysis for integrating the adaptive state estimation and adaptive G&C designs. All the developed designs are validated in nonlinear, 6DOF fixed-wing aircraft simulations. Finally, the thesis presents a decentralized coordination strategy for vision-based multiple-aircraft formation control. In this approach, each aircraft in formation regulates range from up to two nearest neighboring aircraft while simultaneously tracking nominal desired trajectories common to all aircraft and avoiding static obstacles.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-03T15:07:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 IsaelCJ_DISSERT.pdf: 3710521 bytes, checksum: ffcd6197d140a1f366f43dd76204f72c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-02-05 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / With the technology progess, embedded systems using adaptive techniques are being used frequently. One of these techniques is the Variable Structure Model- Reference Adaptive Control (VS-MRAC). The implementation of this technique in embedded systems, requires consideration of a sampling period which if not taken into consideration, can adversely affect system performance and even takes the system to instability. This work proposes a stability analysis of a discrete-time VS-MRAC accomplished for SISO linear time-invariant plants with relative degree one. The aim is to analyse the in uence of the sampling period in the system performance and the relation of this period with the chattering and system instability / Com o avanco da tecnologia, sistemas embarcados utilizando t?cnicas adaptativas est?o sendo utilizados com mais frequencia. Uma dessas t?cnicas ? o Controlador adaptativo por Modelo de Referencia e Estrutura Variavel (VS-MRAC). A implementa??o dessa t?cnica em sistemas embarcados, requer a considera??o de um per?odo de amostragem que se n?o for levado em considera??o, pode afetar de maneira negativa a performance do sistema e at? mesmo lev?-lo a instabilizacao. Este trabalho prop?e uma an?lise de estabilidade do VS-MRAC para o caso discreto para uma planta SISO linear, invariante no tempo, de grau relativo unit?rio. O objetivo ? analisar a influ?ncia do per?odo de amostragem no desempenho do sistema, e a rela??o desse per?odo com o fen?meno de "chattering" e instabiliza??o do sistema

Real-Time Rollover prevention of Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) is very paramount to its reliability and survivability mostly when operating on unknown and rough terrains like mines or other planets.Therefore this research presents the method of real-time rollover prevention of UGVs making use of Adaptive control techniques based on Recursive least Squares (RLS) estimation of unknown parameters, in order to enable the UGVs to adapt to unknown hush terrains thereby increasing their reliability and survivability. The adaptation is achieved by using indirect adaptive control technique where the controller parameters are computed in real time based on the online estimation of the plant’s (UGV) parameters (Rollover index and Roll Angle) and desired UGV’s performance in order to appropriately adjust the UGV speed and suspension actuators to counter-act the vehicle rollover. A great challenge of indirect adaptive control system is online parameter identification, where in this case the RLS based estimator is used to estimate the vehicles rollover index and Roll Angle from lateral acceleration measurements and height of the centre of gravity of the UGV. RLS is suitable for online parameter identification due to its nature of updating parameter estimate at each sample time. The performance of the adaptive control algorithms and techniques is evaluated using Matlab Simulink® system model with the UGV Model built using SimMechanics physical modelling platform and the whole system runs within Simulink environment to emulate real world application. The simulation results of the proposed adaptive control algorithm based on RLS estimation, show that the adaptive control algorithm does prevent or minimize the likely hood of vehicle rollover in real time. / Electrical and Mining Engineering / M. Tech. (Electrical Engineering)

The omnicopter is a small unmanned aerial vehicle capable of executing decoupled translational and rotational motion (six degree of freedom, 6DOF, motion). The development of controllers for various 6DOF controllable multirotors has been much more limited than development for quadrotors, which makes selecting a controller for a 6DOF multirotor difficult. The omnicopter is subject to various uncertainties and disturbances from hardware changes, structural dynamics, and airflow, making adaptive controllers particularly interesting to investigate. The goal of this research is to design and evaluate the performance of various position and attitude controller combinations for the omnicopter, specifically focusing on adaptive controllers. Simulations are first used to compare combinations of three position controllers, PID, model reference adaptive control, augmented model reference adaptive control (aMRAC), and four attitude controllers, PI/feedback linearization (PIFL), augmented model reference adaptive control, backstepping, and adaptive backstepping (aBack). For the simulations, the omnicopter is commanded to point at and track a stationary aim point as it travels along a $C^0$ continuous trajectory and a trajectory that is $C^1$ continuous. The controllers are stressed by random disturbances and the addition of an unaccounted for suspended mass. The augmented model reference adaptive controller for position control paired with the adaptive backstepping controller for attitude control is shown to be the best controller combination for tracking various trajectories while subject to disturbances. Based on the simulation results, the PID/PIFL and aMRAC/aBack controllers are selected to be compared during three different flight tests. The first flight test is on a $C^1$ continuous trajectory while the omnicopter is commanded to point at and track a stationary aim point. The second flight test is a hover with an unmodeled added weight, and the third is a circular trajectory with a broken blade. As with the simulation results, the adaptive controller is shown to yield better performance than the nonadaptive controller for all scenarios, particularly for position tracking. With an added weight or a broken propeller, the adaptive attitude controller struggles to return to level flight, but is capable of maintaining steady flight when the nonadaptive controller tends to fail. Finally, while model reference adaptive controllers are shown to be effective, their nonlinearity can make them difficult to tune and certify via standard certification methods, such as gain and phase margin. A method for using time delay margin estimates, a potential certification metric, to tune the adaptive parameter tuning gain matrix is shown to be useful when applied to an augmented MRAC controller for a quadrotor. / Doctor of Philosophy / The omnicopter is a small unmanned aerial vehicle capable of executing decoupled translational and rotational motion. The development of controllers for these types of vehicles has been limited, making controller selection difficult. The omnicopter is subject to variations in hardware and airflow, making adaptive controllers particularly interesting to investigate. The goal of this research is to design and compare the performance of various position and attitude controller combinations for the omnicopter, specifically focusing on adaptive controllers. Simulations are first used to compare combinations of several position and attitude controllers on various trajectories and disturbances. Simulation results showed that a fully adaptive controller combination produced the best trajectory tracking while subject to disturbances. As with the simulation results, flight tests showed the adaptive controller yields better performance than the nonadaptive controller for all scenarios, particularly for position tracking. Finally, while the adaptive position controller was shown to be effective, it is difficult to tune and certify for widespread use. A method for using time delay margin estimates, a potential certification metric, to tune the adaptive controller is shown to be useful when applied to an adaptive controller for a quadrotor.

Thesis (MScEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis presents the development of an adaptive longitudinal control system for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The project forms part of a research effort at Stellenbosch University into different fault-tolerant control techniques for UAVs. In order to demonstrate the usefulness of fault-tolerant adaptive control, the control system was designed to handle damage-induced longitudinal shifts in the centre of gravity (CG) of the aircraft, which are known to have a dramatic effect on the stability of a fixed-wing aircraft. Using a simplified force and moment model, equations were derived which model the effect of longitudinal CG shifts on the behaviour of the aircraft. A linear analysis of the longitudinal dynamics using these equations showed that the short period mode can become unstable for backward CG shifts. An adaptive pitch rate controller with the model reference adaptive control structure was designed to re-stabilise the short period mode when the CG shifts backwards. The adaptive law was designed using Lyapunov stability theory. Airspeed, climb rate and altitude controllers were designed around the pitch rate controller to allow full autonomous control of the longitudinal dynamics of the UAV. These outer loops were designed with constant parameters, since they would be unaffected by CG shifts if the adaptive pitch rate controller performed as desired. Pure software simulations as well as hardware-in-the-loop simulations showed that the adaptive control system is able to handle instantaneous shifts in the centre of gravity which would destabilise a fixed-gain control system. These simulation results were validated in flight tests, where the aircraft was destabilised using positive feedback and re-stabilised by the adaptive control system. Thus the simulation and flight test results showed that an adaptive control can re-stabilise an unstable aircraft without explicit knowledge of the change in the aircraft dynamics, and therefore could be effective as part of an integrated fault-tolerant control system. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis bied die ontwikkeling aan van ’n aanpassende longitudinale beheerstelsel vir ’n onbemande vliegtuig. Die projek is deel van navorsing by die Universiteit van Stellenbosch oor verskillende fout-tolerante beheertegnieke vir onbemande vliegtuie. Om die doeltreffendheid van aanpassende beheer te demonstreer, is die beheerstelsel ontwerp om situasies te kan hanteer waar die vliegtuig só beskadig word dat sy massamiddelpunt agtertoe skuif, wat ’n groot invloed op die stabiliteit van ’n vastevlerk-vliegtuig kan hê. ’n Vereenvoudigde model van die kragte en momente wat op die vliegtuig inwerk is gebruik om vergelykings af te lei wat beskryf hoe die gedrag van die vliegtuig verander as die massamiddelpunt agtertoe verskuif. Hierdie vergelykings is gebruik in ’n lineêre analise van die longitudinale dinamika van die vliegtuig, wat getoon het dat die kortperiode-modus onstabiel kan raak as die massamiddelpunt agtertoe verskuif. ’n Aanpassende heitempobeheerder met die modelverwysings-aanpassende beheerstruktuur is ontwerp om die kortperiode-modus weer te stabiliseer wanneer die massamiddelpunt agtertoe verskuif. Die aanpassingswet is ontwerp deur die gebruik van Lyapunov se stabiliteitsteorie. Lugspoed-, klimtempo- en hoogtebeheerders is rondom die aanpassende heitempobeheerder ontwerp sodat die longitudinale dinamika van die vliegtuig heeltemal outonoom beheer kan word. Hierdie buitelusse is ontwerp met vaste parameters, aangesien hulle nie geraak sal word deur verskuiwings in die massamiddelpunt as die aanpassende heitempobeheerder na wense werk nie. Suiwer sagteware-simulasies, sowel as hardeware-in-die-lus-simulasies, het getoon dat die aanpassende beheerstelsel oombliklike verskuiwings in die massamiddelpunt goed kan hanteer, waar sulke verskuiwings ’n beheerstelsel met vaste parameters onstabiel sou maak. Hierdie simulasie-resultate is bevestig deur vlugtoetse te doen, waar die vliegtuig onstabiel gemaak is deur positiewe terugvoer, en weer deur die aanpassende beheerstelsel stabiel gemaak is. Die simulasie- en vlugtoetsresultate wys dus dat aanpassende beheer ’n onstabiele vliegtuig weer kan stabiliseer sonder eksplisiete kennis van die veranderinge in die dinamika van die vliegtuig. Aanpassende beheer kan dus doeltreffend wees as deel van ’n geïntegreerde fout-tolerante beheerstelsel.

This thesis aims to contribute to the area of kernel methods, which are a class of machine learning methods known for their wide applicability and state-of-the-art performance, but which suffer from high training and evaluation complexity. The work in this thesis utilizes the notion of reduced-set models to alleviate the training and testing complexities of these methods in a unified manner. In the first part of the thesis, we use recent results in kernel smoothing and integral-operator learning to design a generic strategy to speed up various kernel methods. In Chapter 3, we present a method to speed up kernel PCA (KPCA), which is one of the fundamental kernel methods for manifold learning, by using reduced-set density estimates (RSDE) of the data. The proposed method induces an integral operator that is an approximation of the ideal integral operator associated to KPCA. It is shown that the error between the ideal and approximate integral operators is related to the error between the ideal and approximate kernel density estimates of the data. In Chapter 4, we derive similar approximation algorithms for Gaussian process regression, diffusion maps, and kernel embeddings of conditional distributions. In the second part of the thesis, we use reduced-set models for kernel methods to tackle online learning in model-reference adaptive control (MRAC). In Chapter 5, we relate the properties of the feature spaces induced by Mercer kernels to make a connection between persistency-of-excitation and the budgeted placement of kernels to minimize tracking and modeling error. In Chapter 6, we use a Gaussian process (GP) formulation of the modeling error to accommodate a larger class of errors, and design a reduced-set algorithm to learn a GP model of the modeling error. Proofs of stability for all the algorithms are presented, and simulation results on a challenging control problem validate the methods.

M.Ing. (Electrical and Electronic Engineering) / Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) is proposed to assist drivers tedious manual acceleration or braking of the vehicle, as well as with maintaining a safe headway time gap. This thesis proposes, simulates, and implements a vision-based ACC system which uses a single camera to obtain the clearance distance between the preceding vehicle and the ACC vehicle. A three-step vehicle detection framework is used to obtain the position of the lead vehicle in the image. The vehicle coordinates are used in conjunction with the lane width at that point to estimate the longitudinal clearance range. A Kalman filter filters this range signal and tracks the vehicle’s longitudinal position. Since image processing algorithms are computationally intensive, this document addresses how adaptive image cropping improves the update frequency of the vision-based range sensor. A basic model of a vehicle is then derived for which a Proportional-Integral (PI) controller with gain scheduling is used for ACC. A simulation of the system determines whether the ACC algorithm will work on an actual vehicle.

Pour synthétiser un correcteur robuste pour un système linéaire incertain, il existe de nombreuses méthodes linéaires. Cependant, bien souvent, le gain en robustesse se fait au détriment de la performance. Aussi, dans cette thèse, on s'intéresse à la situation où la plage des valeurs possibles des paramètres est "très grande" par rapport à la "faible" variation du niveau de performance souhaité. Dans cette situation, il peut alors s'avérer intéressant d'utiliser des correcteurs séquencés. Seulement, la mise en place de cette solution nécessite que le correcteur ait à sa disposition les paramètres sur lesquels il sera séquencé. Et il peut arriver que l'on ne souhaite pas (à cause de considérations de réalisation pratique), ou que l'on ne puisse pas disposer de la mesure de ces paramètres. On est alors amené à estimer ces paramètres et donc à utiliser le paradigme de la commande adaptative. Dans cette thèse, on cherche à proposer une méthodologie de synthèse d'un correcteur auto-adaptatif afin de résoudre un problème de commande robuste d'un procédé linéaire incertain. Après une étude théorique ayant pour objectif de proposer une telle méthodologie, le cas d'un avion instable est traité à titre d'application, permettant ainsi de mettre en évidence le bénéfice que la stratégie proposée peut apporter à la commande d'un système incertain. / Many linear methods exist to design a robust controller for an uncertain linear system. This thesis considered the situation where the range of possible values of parameters is "very large" in relation to "small" variations in the desired level of performance. Frequently, an increase in robustness is obtained at the expense of a performance loss. The use of scheduled controllers may be an innovative way to address this problem. The implementation of this solution requires the controller has at its disposal the parameters on which the scheduling is done. However, it may occur that making the measure of the parameters available is not desired (for example, because of practical implementation aspects) or not possible. In these situations, the designer of the controller is led to estimate these parameters and then to use the paradigm of adaptive control. This thesis explored a methodology for designing an adaptive controller in which to solve the problem of robust control for an uncertain linear plant. A theoretical study was first undertaken which aimed to propose such a methodology; followed by, a study of the case of an unstable airplane as an application. Such an analysis highlighted the benefits that the proposed strategy can bring to the control for an uncertain plant.

Dans ce mémoire de thèse, nous présentons la conception, l'analyse de la stabilité, les simulations numériques et aussi les résultats des expérimentes concernant différents contrôleurs de vitesse mécanique du moteur à réluctance variable (MRV).Dans les deux premiers chapitres une brève description de la physique et de la construction du MRV est présenté ainsi que le problème du contrôle d'être abordé, c'est la commande de vitesse sans capteur. Il est aussi présenté l'état de l'art de ce problème et certains des solutions proposées dans d'autres travaux. On propose notre solution et on présente un petit résumé des articles scientifiques qui ont été publiés dans des magazines et des conférences.Dans le chapitre numéro trois est présenté le design du contrôleur adaptatif et sans capteur du MRV. On suppose, dans une première étape que seule la vitesse mécanique est inconnue et la stabilité exponentielle uniforme des erreurs de suivement est obtenue. Dans une deuxième étape, les conditions d'opération sont aggravées et, en plus de la vitesse, les paramètres physiques sont également supposées inconnues, la stabilité asymptotique uniforme est obtenue dans ce cas. L'estimation des paramètres du MRV est garantie grâce à la condition de persistance d'excitation. Cette commande se compose de deux boucles, une boucle interne basée sur un contrôleur de type PI2D qui est particulièrement intéressant parce qu'il est libre de modèle; cette boucle entraîne les variables mécaniques -la position et la vitesse- vers une référence désirée. Une deuxième boucle de contrôle externe prend le courant électrique vers un ' "courant de référence virtuelle" qui est généré sur la base d'une approche de partage de couple. Le contrôleur propose est testé au niveau de simulations numériques qui sont également présentés.Dans le quatrième chapitre, une nouvelle approche de modélisation du MRV est utilisée pour concevoir le contrôleur. Dans ce scénario, on suppose que l'ensemble de l'état et tous les paramètres physiques sont disponibles, cette approche est pensée pour être adapté au contrôleur basé sur observateur, recherche qui est en cours de développement. Le contrôleur est composé de deux boucles, également que celui qui a été mentionné précédemment. Ce contrôleur est sélectionné parce qu'il est approprié pour le contrôle d'équivalence vraie, qui il s'agit de remplacer les «mesures physiques» provenant d'un capteur par les «observations» provenant d'un observateur. La mise en oeuvre numérique est effectuée sur Simulink de Matlab.Enfin, dans le chapitre cinq, les résultats expérimentaux qui ont été effectués pour évaluer la performance des contrôleurs proposés -ce sont les PI2D et adaptatif PI2D pour le modèle simplifie ainsi que le PID pour le nouveau approche de modélisation- sont présentés. Dans la première partie, une brève description de la construction du banc de tests utilisé est présenté ainsi que quelques-unes caractéristiques techniques. Trois différentes profils de vitesse sont imposées à chacun des contrôleurs proposés -ce sont la tangente hyperbolique, la rampe saturée et la référence sinusoïdal- et de bonnes résultats sont obtenus en considérant que la variable contrôlée est la vitesse. Le dernier chapitre correspond aux conclusions de la recherche effectuée ainsi qu'aux travaux futurs. / In this thesis dissertation we present the design, stability analysis, numerical simulations and physical experiments of different controllers designed to drive the mechanical velocity of the switched reluctance motor (SRM). In the First and Second Chapters a brief description of the physics and construction of the SRM is presented, as well as the problem of control to be aboard, that is the velocity sensorless control of motors and the state of the art of this problem. The proposed solution is introduced and a summary of the published papers as well as the contribution are also presented.In the Chapter number three is presented the velocity sensorless and adaptive control of the SRM. It is assumed, in a first stage, that only mechanical velocity is unknown, uniform exponential stability of the errors is achieved in this scenario. In a second stage, conditions are stressed and in addition to the velocity, physical parameters are also assumed unknown, uniform asymptotical stability is achieved in this case and parameters estimation is guaranteed under a persistence of excitation condition. This controller consists of two loops, an internal loop based on a PI2D–type controller which is of particular interest given it is free-model; this loop drives the mechanical variables –that is position and velocity- towards a desired reference. An external control loop takes the electrical current towards a ‘’virtual” current reference which is generated based on a torque share approach. The controller is tested on numerical simulations, which are also presented.In the fourth chapter, a new approach on the modeling of the SRM is utilized to design the controller, in this scenario is assumed that the whole state and all the physical parameters are available, however this approach is thought to be suitable to observer based controller, whose ongoing research is being performed. The controller is composed by two loops, similarly to the one mentioned previously. This controller is selected because it is suitable for certainty equivalence control, that is, to substitute the “measurements” by the “observations” coming from a virtual sensor. Numerical implementation is performed on Simulink of Matlab.Finally, in the Chapter five, the experimental results carried out to evaluate the performance of the proposed controllers are presented, these are the PI2D and the adaptive PI2D controllers for the simplified model and the $PID$ controller for the novel modeling approach. In the first part, a brief description of the construction of the utilized bench is presented as well as the some technical characteristics. Three different velocity profiles were imposed to each of the overmentioned controllers –these are the so called smooth step, the saturated ramp and the sinusoidal reference- and good results, considering that the controlled variable is the velocity, were obtained. The last chapter corresponds to the conclusions of the performed research as well as to the future work.

La popularité des robots parallèles s’est considérablement accrue lors des dernières décennies. Cette popularité a été stimulée par les nombreux avantages qu’offrent les robots parallèles par rapport à leurs homologues traditionnels sériels concernant certaines applications industrielles nécessitant de fortes accélérations et une bonne précision. Toutefois, afin d'exploiter pleinement leur potentiel et de tirer le meilleur de leurs capacités, un long chemin reste encore à parcourir. En plus de la conception mécanique, l'étalonnage et l'optimisation de la structure, le développement d’une commande efficace joue un rôle primordial dans l’amélioration de la performance globale des robots parallèles. Cependant, ces derniers sont connus par leur dynamique fortement non linéaire qui s’accroît considérablement lorsque de fortes accélérations sont sollicitées conduisant à des vibrations mécaniques. En outre, les incertitudes sont abondantes dans ces systèmes en raison des hypothèses simplificatrices de modélisation, l'usure des composants du robot et les variations de l'environnement. De plus, leur dynamique couplée et la redondance d'actionnement dans certains mécanismes donnent lieu à des problèmes de commande complexes et difficiles à gérer. Par conséquent, les stratégies de commande développées pour les robots parallèles devraient tenir compte de tous les enjeux et défis mentionnées précédemment. L'objectif principal de cette thèse réside dans la proposition de nouvelles stratégies de commande adaptatives pour les robots parallèles tenant compte de leurs caractéristiques et particularités afin d'améliorer leurs performances de suivi de trajectoires. En outre, les stratégies de commande développées devraient être validées d'abord en simulation, puis à travers des expérimentations temps-réel sur les robots parallèles à notre disposition. Dans ce contexte, trois contributions majeures sont proposées dans le cadre de cette thèse. Tout d'abord, une nouvelle classe de contrôleurs adaptatifs avec des gains de retour non linéaires temps-variant est proposée. La deuxième contribution réside dans le développement d’une version adaptative de la commande robuste RISE. Pour la troisième contribution, la stratégie de commande adaptative L1, récemment développée, est appliquée pour la première fois sur un robot parallèle, suivie de deux nouvelles extensions basées-modèle. Des simulations numériques ainsi que des expérimentations temps-réel sur différents prototypes de robots parallèles sont présentées et discutées. Tous les contrôleurs proposés sont validés pour différents scénarios permettant ainsi de montrer leur pertinence et efficacité. / Parallel Kinematic Manipulators (PKMs) have gained an increased popularity in the last few decades. This interest has been stimulated by the significant advantages of PKMs compared to their traditional serial counterparts, with respect to some specific industrial tasks requiring high accelerations and accuracy. However, to fully exploit their potential and to get the most of their capabilities, a long path is still to be covered. In addition to mechanical design, calibration and optimization of the structure, efficient control development plays an essential role in improving the overall performance of PKMs. However, PKMs are known for their highly nonlinear dynamics which increases considerably when operating at high accelerations leading to mechanical vibrations. Moreover, uncertainties are abundant in such systems due to model simplifications, the wear of the components of the robot and the variations of the environment. Furthermore, their coupled dynamics and actuation redundancy in some mechanisms give rise to complex and challenging control issues. Consequently, the developed control schemes should take into account all the previously mentioned issues and challenges. The main goal of this thesis lies in the proposal of new adaptive control schemes for PKMs while considering their characteristics and particularities in order to improve their tracking capabilities. Moreover, the developed control strategies should be first validated through numerical simulations, then through real-time experiments on available PKMs. Within this context, three main contributions are proposed in this thesis. First, a new class of adaptive controllers with nonlinear time-varying feedback gains is proposed. The second contribution lies in an adaptive-based extended version of RISE robust feedback control strategy. For the third contribution, the recently developed L1 adaptive control strategy is applied for the first time on a PKM, followed by two novel model-based extensions. Numerical simulations as well as real-time experiments on various PKMs prototypes are provided and discussed. All the proposed controllers are validated for different operating conditions in order to show their relevance and efficiency.