Input-output linearization by velocity-based gain-scheduling

The velocity-based analysis framework provides direct support for divide and conquer design approaches, such as the gain-scheduling control design methodology, whereby the design of a non-linear system is decomposed into the design of an associated family of linear systems. The velocity-based gain-scheduling approach is quite general and directly supports the design of feedback configurations for which the closed-loop dynamics are non-linear. However, the present paper concentrates on the velocity-based design of controllers which, when combined with a non-linear plant, attain linear dynamics. The resulting approach is a direct generalization to non-linear systems of classical frequency-domain pole-zero inversion which is, in many ways, complementary to the Input-Output Linearization approach. In particular the former is dynamic and reduces to open-loop inversion in the linear case whilst the latter is essentially static and utilizes full state feedback.