Model reference adaptive control of distributed parameter systems

This paper presents a discontinuous control law for distributed parameter systems of hyperbolic type which on one hand ensures robustness with respect to small dynamic uncertainties and disturbances, and on the other hand permit online plant parameter estimation. The main feature of the proposed model reference adaptive control law is in the use of an auxiliary system, the time-varying parameters of which admit simultaneous convergence to their nominal spatially varying values when an appropriate input signal in the reference model is used. The class of sufficiently rich input signals referred to as generators of persistent excitation is introduced. This class guarantees the existence of a unique steady state for the parameter errors, thereby yielding unknown plant parameters