A Class of Hybrid Geometric Controllers for Robust Global Asymptotic Stabilization on S¹

This paper proposes a hybrid geometric control scheme for the classical problem of globally stabilizing a pointmass system on a unit circle, as it is impossible to design a smooth globally asymptotically stable controller for this problem. Unlike most existing solutions that rely on coordinates and rely on a particular controller construction, our proposed solution is coordinate free (or geometric) and belongs to a class of controllers that we also characterize. Specifically, we propose a geometric hybrid controller that uses a local geometric controller (from the said class) and an open-loop geometric controller. The system achieves global asymptotic stability when each controller from the local geometric class is combined with the geometric open-loop controller using a hybrid systems framework. Moreover, the hybrid geometric controller guarantees robust asymptotic stability. Simulations validate the stability properties of the proposed hybrid geometric controller.