Unifying Fixed Time and Prescribed Time Control for Strict-Feedback Nonlinear Systems

This paper investigates the prescribed-time tracking control problem for a class of multi-input multi-output (MIMO) nonlinear strict-feedback systems subject to non-vanishing uncertainties. The inherent unmatched and non-vanishing uncertainties make the prescribed-time control problem become much more nontrivial. The solution to address the challenges mentioned above involves incorporating a prescribed-time filter, as opposed to a finite-time filter, and formulating a prescribed-time Lyapunov stability lemma (Lemma 5). The prescribed-time Lyapunov stability lemma is based on time axis shifting time-varying yet bounded gain, which establishes a novel link between the fixed-time and prescribed-time control method. This allows the restriction condition that the time-varying gain function must satisfy as imposed in most exist prescribed-time control works to be removed. Under the proposed control method, the desire trajectory is ensured to closely track the output of the system in prescribed time. The effectiveness of the theoretical results are verified through numerical simulation.