Stability of Zero Dynamics of Sampled-Data Nonlinear Systems

One of the approaches to sampled-data controller design for nonlinear continuoustime systems consists of obtaining an appropriate model and then proceeding to design a controller for the model. Hence, it is important to derive a good approximate sampled-data model because the exact sampled-data model for nonlinear systems is often unavailable to the controller designers. Recently, Yuz and Goodwin have proposed an accurate approximate model which includes extra zero dynamics corresponding to the relative degree of the continuoustime nonlinear system. Such extra zero dynamics are called sampling zero dynamics. A more accurate sampled-data model is, however, required when the relative degree of a continuous-time nonlinear plant is two. The reason is that the closed-loop system becomes unstable when the more accurate sampled-data model has unstable sampling zero dynamics and a controller design method based on cancellation of the zero dynamics is applied. This paper derives the sampling zero dynamics of the more accurate sampled-data model and shows a condition which assures the stability of the sampling zero dynamics of the model. Further, it is shown that this extends a well-known result for the stability condition of linear systems to the nonlinear case.