Path-following Approach to Control Effort Reduction of Tracking Feedback Laws

We develop a path-following algorithm for redesign of tracking feedback laws to reduce the control effort. Our algorithm provides a tradeoff between the control effort and the dynamic performance along the path, while maintaining the desired convergence to the path. It is applicable to feedback linearizable systems with stable zero dynamics. We illustrate it on a realistic hovercraft model, and compare the resulting control effort with control efforts of other path-following and tracking algorithms.