Module 26: Implementation

Rick Hill, PhD

Dept of Mechanical Engineering
Module 26: Implementation
• Complicating factors

• Control design without a model

Implementation
• Implementation of control algorithms
 Practical Implementation
• Model error • Disturbances/noise
• Complexity • Nonlinearities
• Actuator dynamics (saturation)
• Sensor dynamics • Control implementation

Implementation
• Sampling
D
R + E Y
Control U +
Actuator Plant
- Algorithm +

N
+
Sensor
+
Actuator/Sensor Dynamics
• Can model using techniques we have
learned throughout this course
• Often dynamics are fast compared to the
plant and controller and hence can be

Implementation
treated as static
• Other times dynamics must be modeled
• Can attempt to remove sensor altogether
and use a model to estimate certain
quantities
Sensorless Control
• Motivation
• Some quantities cannot be measured (battery state of
charge, SOC)
• Removal of a sensor reduces cost and weight, and
improves reliability

Implementation
• Estimator still has dynamics … needs to be faster than
rest of system
• Concept:
• Estimate states using a model of the plant (open-loop)
• Use measurements of some states as a correction to the
estimates (closed-loop)
• Use probabilistic information to “optimally” balance the
contribution of the model and the measurement (Kalman
Filter)
Sensorless Control
• Concept of a state estimator (observer)
U Actual Y
Plant

Implementation
Yest +
+ Model of
+ Plant -

correction
K error in
estimate

• There is a duality between estimation and

control
Complexity
• If it is not desired to disregard some fast
dynamics, may be able to decouple system
components based on speed

Implementation
• Like what was done with motor control
• Fast inner loop first, then slower outer loop
Model Error
• Options:
1. Make system robust to model
uncertainty

Implementation
2. Attempt to estimate model parameters
• State estimation techniques
• Adaptive control techniques
Model Error
• Sensitivity function indicates robustness

 GCL amount the closed-loop transfer

GCL 1 function changes for a given
S  change in the plant
P 1  C ( s) P( s)
P

M(dB)

ω(rad/sec)
Disturbances
• Options
• Make system robust to disturbances, be
aware of effect on other goals (noise
rejection, reference tracking)

Implementation
• “Feed forward” knowledge about the
disturbance (if available) to correct the
control signal
Noise
• Options
• Make system robust to noise, be aware of
effect on other goals (disturbance
rejection, reference tracking)

Implementation
• Use a filter to help improve
noise/resonance attenuation properties of
the system
Filter Design
• Noise signals are in a different frequency range than
reference signals (band-pass filter, notch filter)
• Filters can add delay if implemented in real time
Bode Diagram Bode Diagram
10 0

Implementation
0 -5

Magnitude (dB)
Magnitude (dB)

-10
-10
-20
-15
-30
-20
-40

-50 -25
0 90

-45 45
Phase (deg)
Phase (deg)

-90 0

-135 -45

-180 -90
-1 0 1 2 -1 0 1 2 3
10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
Frequency (rad/sec) Frequency (rad/sec)

• Noise and reference are in the same frequency range

• Kalman filter
Nonlinearities/Saturation
• No real amplifier/actuator can supply infinite
control effort, eventually they saturate
• Can simulate effect

Implementation
Saturation
• The effect of saturation is that the overall gain
is effectively reduced (nonlinearly)
• Saturation can cause a problem in that an
integrator in the controller will continue to

Implementation
integrate the error (request more control
effort) even when the actuator is saturated
• One solution is to use an “integrator anti-
windup” strategy to switch the integrator off
Control Design without a Model
• Throughout this course we have assumed a
model on which to base our design
• What to do when there is no model
• Use intuition about effect of control to tune

Implementation
gains
• Use an empirical technique (Ziegler
Nichols, many others)
• Use trial and error to optimize the resulting
behavior (software is available, can be
time consuming)
PID Intuition
• Some intuition about the effect of the terms
of a PID controller
• Increasing Kp: Same amount of error generates a
proportionally larger amount of control … makes

Implementation
system faster, but overshoot more (less stable)
• Increasing Kd: Allows controller to anticipate an
increase in error, adds damping to the system
(reduces overshoot)
• Increasing Ki: Control effort builds as error is
integrated over time, helps reduce steady state
error, but can be slow to respond

Note: these guidelines do not hold for all situations

Ziegler Nichols
1
C ( s )  K p (1   Td s )
• First Method Ti s
• Look at open-loop step response of plant, use parameters
of response to calculate control gains

Type of Kp Ti Td
Control

P
T/L - -

PI 0.9T/L L/0.3 -

PID 1.2T/L 2L 0.5L

Ziegler Nichols
1
C ( s )  K p (1   Td s )
• Second Method Ti s
• Increase Kp until closed-loop system is on the verge of
instability, use critical gain and resulting period

Type of Kp Ti Td
Control

P
0.5Kcr - -

PI 0.45Kcr Pcr/1.2 -

PID 0.6Kcr 0.5Pcr 0.125Pcr

Numerical Optimization
• Test the system over the entire space of
possible control gains (for a specific input)
• Can do for a specifically defined cost function
• Some standard Performance Indices exist

Implementation
too integral of absolute error  IAE  T e(t ) dt
0
Ex: T
integral of time multiplied by absolute error  ITAE   t e(t ) dt
0

• MATLAB can perform this type of optimization

Controller Implementation
• The first feedback systems implemented
their control “algorithms” mechanically (ex.
Flyball governor, toilet float, thermostat)

Implementation
• Today algorithms are implemented in
electronics or more commonly software
Analog Implementation
Control “algorithms” can be implemented in electronics
• Passive circuit – • Active circuit – includes
resistors, capacitors, operational amplifier,
inductors, not powered external power

Implementation
• Ex: filters, lead and lag • Ex: integrators, differentiators,
compensators for isolation
Digital Implementation
• Implement control algorithm in software –
more adaptable, can implement nonlinear
and binary logic easily
• Requires control algorithms to be

Implementation
implemented digitally
• input must be sampled
• output must be held
• equations must be discretized
• Automatic code generation
Digital Implementation
• Sampling the input is analog to digital
conversion
• Holding the output is digital to analog
conversion

Implementation
• Converting from to analog to digital adds
delay and quantization error (consider our
lab), introduces aliasing
Digital Implementation
• Converting continuous models to digital
• Differential equations → difference equations

x(t  t )  x(t ) 1
x(t )   [ x(k  1)  x(k )]
t

Implementation
Ts
• Laplace transform → z-transform
1
sX ( s )  [ zX ( z )  X ( z )]
Ts
• How to design?
• Design in continuous domain and convert (better ways
than above), design directly in digital domain
Module 26 Summary
• Dealing with complexity
• Control design without a model
• Heuristic

Implementation
• Numerical search

• Control algorithm implementation

• Analog
• Digital
UDM Controls Related Courses
ENGR 4220/5220: Controls I
ELEE 4700/5700: Controls II
ELEE 4520/5520: Real-time Control Systems
ELEE 4760/5760: Digital Control Theory

Implementation
ELEE 5780: Optimization and Optimal Control
ELEE 5540: Fuzzy Systems Theory
ENGR 5520: Sensors and Actuators
ENGR 5780: Mechatronics
ENGR 5790: Mechatronics: Simulation and Modeling