Finite time estimators for state and unknown inputs estimation for a class of nonlinear systems

Abstract

In this work, we’ll present two non-asymptotic approaches for estimation: the modulat-ing function-based method for estimation and observers with prescribed-time convergence. We’ll explain the basic concepts of the latter and illustrate their performance through il-lustrative examples. We will dwell on observers based on modulating functions to gain a deep understanding of the method and become familiar with it. We will propose then an extension of the observer to a new class of nonlinear systems. As an application of the proposed extension, we will focus on a recently introduced problem: Controlling the position of a drone in a mobile environment. Initially, we’ll deal with the Control part of the problem, before moving on to the Estimation part. In order to demonstrate the performance of the observer based on the modulating functions, we’ll compare it with two other observers widely used in the literature.