Absolute Stability of Nonlinear Negative Imaginary Systems with Application to Potential Energy Shaping
Shi and Manchester generalize stability results, enabling robust control of flexible structures.
Researchers Kanghong Shi and Ian R. Manchester (arXiv:2605.06097) established absolute stability conditions for nonlinear negative imaginary (NI) systems interconnected with static nonlinear feedback. The 8-page paper shows the NI property is preserved when feedback is a gradient of a continuously differentiable function, and generalizes prior linear results to allow coupled nonlinearities beyond slope-restricted frameworks. The proposed theory is illustrated through a nonlinear example showing utility in potential energy shaping.
- Established absolute stability conditions for nonlinear negative imaginary (NI) systems with static nonlinear feedback
- Generalizes prior linear NI absolute stability results to handle coupled nonlinearities outside slope-restricted frameworks
- Applications include potential energy shaping for robust control of flexible structures and robotics
Why It Matters
Enables more robust controller design for flexible structures, robotics, and vibration control using nonlinear negative imaginary systems.