Variable Structure System and Its Applications

This plenary paper presents some aspects of continuous- and discrete-time varible structure control theory and its applications studied by the author and his colleagues. The continuous-time and discrete-time sliding mode control systems are presented briefly and the idea of the sliding mode is extended to the sliding sector which was brought by the study of the discrete-time sliding mode. The idea of the sliding sector can be used for both continuous- and discrete-time variable structure system. Inside the sliding sector, the control input can be kept zero for stabilizing the system. The application to self-tuning controller is also presented in using the idea of discrete-time sliding mode. In the last, the application to the control of Furuta Pendulum is presented.