Bifurcation Control of Nonlinear Systems

Abstract

Bifurcation control is discussed in the context of the stabilization of high angle-of-attach flight dynamics. Two classes of stabilization problems for which bifurcation control is useful are discussed. In the first class, which is emphasized in this presentation, a nonlinear control system operates at an equilibrium point which persists only under very small perturbations of a parameter. Such a system will tend to exhibit a jump, or divergence, instability in the absence of appropriate control action. In the second class of systems, an instance of which arises in a tethered satellite system model [14], eigenvalues of the system linearization appear on (or near) the imaginary axis in the complex plane, regardless of the values of system parameters or admissible linear feedback gains.