Using discrete-time controller to globally stabilize a class of feedforward nonlinear systems

This paper considers the problem of using a sampled-data controller to globally stabilize a class of feedforward nonlinear systems. Based on the continuous-time controller proposed in [3], a nested saturation sampled-data control law is first designed to drive states of the feedforward system into a small region around the origin in a finite time. Inside this small region, the nested saturation sampled-data control law is then reduced to a linear sampled-data control law. An explicit formula for the maximum allowable sampling period is computed to guarantee global stability of feedforward systems under the proposed sampled-data controller with appropriate gains.