Robust Observer for a Class of Nonlinear SISO Dynamical Systems

A procedure to design an asymptotically stable second-order sliding mode observer for a class of single input single output (SISO) nonlinear systems in normal form is presented. The observer converges to the system state in spite of the existence of bounded disturbances and parameter uncertainties affecting the system dynamics. At the same time, the observer estimates the disturbances without the use of an additional filter to recover the equivalent control. The observer design is modular; each module of the observer is applied to each equation of state of the plant. Because of this, the proposed observer can be applied to a broader class of dynamic systems. The performance of the observer is illustrated in numerical and experimental form.