Robust sampled-data output tracking control for a class of nonlinear networked systems with stochastic sampling

In this article, the problem of robust sampled-data H∞ output tracking control is investigated for a class of nonlinear networked systems with stochastic sampling and time-varying norm-bounded uncertainties. For the sake of technical simplicity, only two different sampling periods are considered, their occurrence probabilities are given constants and satisfy Bernoulli distribution, and can be extended to the case with multiple stochastic sampling periods. By the way of an input delay, the probabilistic system is transformed into a stochastic continuous time-delay system. A new linear matrix inequality-based procedure is proposed for designing state-feedback controllers, which would guarantee that the closed-loop networked system with stochastic sampling tracks the output of a given reference model well in the sense of H∞. Conservatism is reduced by taking the probability into account. Both network-induced delays and packet dropouts have been considered. Finally, an illustrative example is given to show the usefulness and effectiveness of the proposed H∞ output tracking design.