Generalized Inverses for Finite-Horizon Tracking

Abstract

Control and communication issues aretraditionally "decoupled" in discussions of decision and controlproblems, as this simplifies the analysis and generally works well forclassical models. This fundamental assumption deserves re-examinationas control applications spread into new areas where system complexityis significant. Such areas include the coordinated control of aerialvehicles (UAVs), MEMS devices, multi-joint manipulators and othersettings where many systems must share the attention of adecision-maker. We consider a new class ofsampled-data systems (termed "computer-controlled systems") thatoffer the possibility of jointly optimizing between control andcommunication goals. Computer-controlled LTI systems can be viewed aslinear operators between appropriate inner-product spaces. Thegeneralized inverses of these operators are used to solve a class offinite-horizon tracking problems.<P><Center><I>This work was presented at the IEEE Conf. on Decision and Control, Dec. 1999. </I></Center>