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1. Optimal Selection of Basis Functions for Robust Tracking Control of Uncertain Linear Systems—With Application to Three-Dimensional Printing

   https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4051097  

   Ramani, Keval S.; Okwudire, Chinedum E. (October 2021, Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control)

   null (Ed.)

   Abstract There is growing interest in the use of the filtered basis functions (FBF) approach to track linear systems, especially nonminimum phase (NMP) plants, because of its distinct advantages compared to other tracking control methods in the literature. The FBF approach expresses the control input to the plant as a linear combination of basis functions with unknown coefficients. The basis functions are forward filtered through the plant dynamics, and the coefficients are selected such that tracking error is minimized. Similar to other feedforward control methods, the tracking accuracy of the FBF approach deteriorates in the presence of uncertainties. However, unlike other methods, the FBF approach presents flexibility in terms of the choice of the basis functions, which can be used to improve its accuracy. This paper analyzes the effect of the choice of the basis functions on the tracking accuracy of FBF, in the presence of uncertainties, using the Frobenius norm of the lifted system representation (LSR) of FBF's error dynamics. Based on the analysis, a methodology for optimal selection of basis functions to maximize robustness is proposed, together with an approach to avoid large control effort when it is applied to NMP systems. The basis functions resulting from this process are called robust basis functions. Applied experimentally to a desktop three-dimensional (3D) printer with uncertain NMP dynamics, up to 48% improvement in tracking accuracy is achieved using the proposed robust basis functions compared to B-splines, while utilizing much less control effort. 

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2. A Hybrid Filtered Basis Functions Approach for Tracking Control of Linear Systems with Unmodeled Nonlinear Dynamics

   https://doi.org/10.1109/CASE49439.2021.9551476  

   Chou, Cheng-Hao; Duan, Molong; Okwudire, Chinedum E. (August 2021, 2021 IEEE 17th International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (CASE))

   A hybrid filtered basis function (FBF) approach is proposed in this paper for feedforward tracking control of linear systems with unmodeled nonlinear dynamics. Unlike most available tracking control techniques, the FBF approach is very versatile; it is applicable to any type of linear system, regardless of its underlying dynamics. The FBF approach expresses the control input to a system as a linear combination of basis functions with unknown coefficients. The basis functions are forward filtered through a linear model of the system's dynamics and the unknown coefficients are selected such that tracking error is minimized. The linear models used in existing implementations of the FBF approach are typically physics-based representations of the linear dynamics of a system. The proposed hybrid FBF approach expands the application of the FBF approach to systems with unmodeled nonlinearities by learning from data. A hybrid model is formulated by combining a physics-based model of the system's linear dynamics with a data-driven linear model that approximates the unmodeled nonlinear dynamics. The hybrid model is used online in receding horizon to compute optimal control commands that minimize tracking errors. The proposed hybrid FBF approach is shown in simulations on a model of a vibration-prone 3D printer to improve tracking accuracy by up to 65.4%, compared to an existing FBF approach that does not incorporate data. 

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3. Optimal Selection of Basis Functions for Minimum-Effort Tracking Control of Nonminimum Phase Systems Using Filtered Basis Functions

   https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4044355  

   Ramani, Keval S.; Duan, Molong; Okwudire, Chinedum E.; Ulsoy, A. Galip (November 2019, Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control)

   Abstract Accurate tracking of nonminimum phase (NMP) systems is well known to require large amounts of control effort. It is, therefore, of practical value to minimize the effort needed to achieve a desired level of tracking accuracy for NMP systems. There is growing interest in the use of the filtered basis functions (FBF) approach for tracking the control of linear NMP systems because of distinct performance advantages it has over other methods. The FBF approach expresses the control input as a linear combination of user-defined basis functions. The basis functions are forward filtered through the dynamics of the plant, and the coefficients are selected such that the tracking error is minimized. There is a wide variety of basis functions that can be used with the FBF approach, but there has been no work to date on how to select the best set of basis functions. Toward selecting the best basis functions, the Frobenius norm of the lifted system representation (LSR) of dynamics is proposed as an excellent metric for evaluating the performance of linear time varying (LTV) discrete-time tracking controllers, like FBF, independent of the desired trajectory to be tracked. Using the metric, an optimal set of basis functions that minimize the control effort without sacrificing tracking accuracy is proposed. The optimal set of basis functions is shown in simulations and experiments to significantly reduce control effort while maintaining or improving tracking accuracy compared to popular basis functions, like B-splines. 

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4. Optimal Selection of Basis Functions for Robust Tracking Control of Linear Systems using Filtered Basis Functions

   https://doi.org/10.23919/ACC45564.2020.9147557  

   Ramani, Keval S.; Okwudire, Chinedum E. (July 2020, 2020 American Control Conference (ACC))

   Accurate tracking of nonminimum phase (NMP) systems is well known to require large amounts of control effort. It is, therefore, of practical value to minimize the effort needed to achieve a desired level of tracking accuracy for NMP systems. There is growing interest in the use of the filtered basis functions (FBF) approach for tracking the control of linear NMP systems because of distinct performance advantages it has over other methods. The FBF approach expresses the control input as a linear combination of user-defined basis functions. The basis functions are forward filtered through the dynamics of the plant, and the coefficients are selected such that the tracking error is minimized. There is a wide variety of basis functions that can be used with the FBF approach, but there has been no work to date on how to select the best set of basis functions. Toward selecting the best basis functions, the Frobenius norm of the lifted system representation (LSR) of dynamics is proposed as an excellent metric for evaluating the performance of linear time varying (LTV) discrete-time tracking controllers, like FBF, independent of the desired trajectory to be tracked. Using the metric, an optimal set of basis functions that minimize the control effort without sacrificing tracking accuracy is proposed. The optimal set of basis functions is shown in simulations and experiments to significantly reduce control effort while maintaining or improving tracking accuracy compared to popular basis functions, like B-splines. 

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5. Basis-to-Basis Operator Learning Using Function Encoders

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cma.2024.117646  

   Ingebrand, Tyler; Thorpe, Adam J; Goswami, Somdatta; Kumar, Krishna; Topcu, Ufuk (February 2025, Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering)

   We present Basis-to-Basis (B2B) operator learning, a novel approach for learning operators on Hilbert spaces of functions based on the foundational ideas of function encoders. We decompose the task of learning operators into two parts: learning sets of basis functions for both the input and output spaces and learning a potentially nonlinear mapping between the coefficients of the basis functions. B2B operator learning circumvents many challenges of prior works, such as requiring data to be at fixed locations, by leveraging classic techniques such as least squares to compute the coefficients. It is especially potent for linear operators, where we compute a mapping between bases as a single matrix transformation with a closed-form solution. Furthermore, with minimal modifications and using the deep theoretical connections between function encoders and functional analysis, we derive operator learning algorithms that are directly analogous to eigen-decomposition and singular value decomposition. We empirically validate B2B operator learning on seven benchmark operator learning tasks and show that it demonstrates a two-orders-of-magnitude improvement in accuracy over existing approaches on several benchmark tasks. 

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