Indirect Model Reference Adaptive Control with Dynamic Adjustment of Parameters

The paper discusses in detail a new method for indirect model reference adaptive control (MRAC) of linear time-invariant continuous-time plants with unknown parameters. The method involves not only dynamic adjustment of plant parameter estimates but also those of the controller parameters. Hence the overall system can be described by a set of non-linear differential equations as in the case of direct control. Many of the difficulties encountered in the conventional indirect approach, where an algebraic equation is solved to determine the control parameters, are consequently bypassed in this method. The proof of stability of the equilibrium state of the overall system is found to be different from that used in direct control. Using Lyapunov’s theory, it is first shown that the parameter errors between the parameter estimates of the identifier and the true parameters of the plant, as well as those between the actual parameters of the controller and their desired values, are bounded. Following this, using growth rates of signals in the adaptive loop as well as order arguments, it is shown that the error equations are globally uniformly stable and that the tracking (control) error tends to zero asymptotically. This in turn establishes the fact that both direct and indirect model reference adaptive schemes require the same amount of prior information to achieve stable adaptive control.