p ‐Times differentiable unbounded functions for robust control of uncertain switched nonlinear systems with tracking constraints

Summary This paper investigates the problem of robust controller design for output‐constrained and state‐constrained uncertain switched nonlinear systems. By using the idea of p ‐times differentiable unbounded functions and the backstepping technique, a constructive method is proposed to design effective controllers such that the output of a class of uncertain switched nonlinear systems in lower triangular form can asymptotically track a constant reference signal without violation of the output tracking error constraint. Furthermore, the explored method is applied to the state‐constrained robust stabilization problem for a class of general uncertain switched nonlinear systems. Finally, a simulation example is provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed results. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.