A Less Conservative Sufficient Condition for PID Stabilization of Scalar Second-Order Nonlinear Uncertain Systems

This letter studies robust set-point regulation of scalar second-order nonlinear uncertain systems using a classical PID controller with constant gains. The scalar second-order model provides a minimal prototype for nonlinear mechanical and electromechanical dynamics, while its velocity-dependent term captures uncertainties such as physical damping and friction. For a positive velocity-derivative bound, existing Lyapunov sufficient conditions certify fixed-gain PID parameter regions that remain separated from the boundary associated with the necessary condition obtained from the worst-case linear model. To reduce this conservatism, this letter proposes an endpoint-balanced quadratic-plus-integral Lyapunov certificate. The key idea is to choose the quadratic cross-term coefficient so that the mixed-term penalty is balanced at the two endpoints of the admissible effective-damping interval before extracting the scalar PID inequality. The resulting condition guarantees global asymptotic regulation for the full derivative-bounded uncertainty class. When the velocity-derivative bound is positive, the proposed condition certifies a fixed-gain PID region that strictly contains those certified by Zhao–Guo and Zhang–Guo. When this bound is zero, the corresponding boundary coincides with that necessary boundary. At the level of Lyapunov analysis, the construction reduces the uniform mixed-term penalty over the entire effective-damping interval.