Development and application of a Lyapunov synthesis based neural adaptive controller

The focus of this paper is to describe a neural adaptive control (NAC) technology derived using a Lyapunov synthesis technique. The NAC is a nonlinear adaptive controller which requires minimal plant information. It adapts its gains in real time to maintain the desired performance and to automatically compensate for changes in plant dynamics caused by system failures, environmental changes, or component damage. As such, the NAC control technology has the potential to enhance system performance by automatically optimizing its control laws for each operating regime. It can also increase reliability by automatically compensating for plant damage and system failures.