Genetic algorithm optimization and control system design of flexible structures

This paper presents an investigation into the deployment of genetic algorithm (GA)-based controller design and optimization for vibration suppression in flexible structures. The potential of GA is explored in three case studies. In the first case study, the potential of GA is demonstrated in the development and optimization of a hybrid learning control scheme for vibration control of flexible manipulators. In the second case study, an active control mechanism for vibration suppression of flexible beam structures using GA optimization technique is proposed. The third case study presents the development of an effective adaptive command shaping control scheme for vibration control of a twin rotor system, where GA is employed to optimize the amplitudes and time locations of the impulses in the proposed control algorithm. The effectiveness of the proposed control schemes is verified in both an experimental and a simulation environment, and their performances are assessed in both the time and frequency domains

Tuning of Nonlinear PID Controller for TRMS Using Evolutionary Computation Methods

In this paper, the Twin rotor MIMO system (TRMS) is tuned by Nonlinear PID controller using Evolutionary Computation methods. The proposed Nonlinear PID controller, used to tune TRMS, improves the system performance with additional degrees of freedom. Evolutionary Computation methods such as Differential Search Algorithm (DSA), real coded Genetic Algorithm (RGA) with simulated binary crossover (SBX) and Particle Swarm optimization (PSO) and Gravitational Search Algorithm (GSA) are used to determine the optimal parameters of the proposed controller by minimizing Integral Square Error (ISE) for rotor response of TRMS. SIMULINK MATLAB software is used for simulating the system. The statistical performance of the controller is analysed among twenty independent trials by taking best, worst, mean and standard deviations of ISE. Simulation results reveal that TRMS system tuned by nonlinear PID controller using Particle Swarm optimization (PSO) is better than the other methods

Dynamic modelling and control of a flexible manoeuvring system.

In this research a twin rotor multi-input multi-output system (TRMS), which is a laboratory platform with 2 degrees of freedom (DOF) is considered. Although, the TRMS does not fly, it has a striking similarity with a helicopter, such as system nonlinearities and cross-coupled modes. Therefore, the TRMS can be perceived as an unconventional and complex "air vehicle" that poses formidable challenges in modelling, control design and analysis, and implementation. These issues constitute the scope of this research. Linear and nonlinear models for the vertical movement of the TRMS are obtained via system identification techniques using black-box modelling. The approach yields input-output models without a priori defined model structure or specific parameter settings reflecting any physical attributes of the system. Firstly, linear parametric models, characterising the TRMS in its hovering operation mode, are obtained using the potential of recursive least squares (RLS) estimation and genetic algorithms (GAs). Further, a nonlinear model using multi-layer perceptron (MLP) neural networks (NNs) is obtained. Such a high fidelity nonlinear model is often required for nonlinear system simulation studies and is commonly employed in the aerospace industry. Both time and frequency domain analyses are utilised to investigate and develop confidence in the models obtained. The frequency domain verification method is a useful tool in the validation of extracted parametric models. It allows high-fidelity verification of dynamic characteristics over a frequency range of interest. The resulting models are utilized in designing controllers for low frequency vibration suppression, development of suitable feedback control laws for set-point tracking, and design of augmented feedforward and feedback control schemes for both vibration suppression and set-point tracking performance. The modelling approaches presented here are shown to be suitable for modelling complex new generation air vehicles, whose flight mechanics are not well understood. Modelling of the TRMS revealed the presence of resonance modes, which are responsible for inducing unwanted vibrations in the system. Command shaping 11 control strategies are developed to reduce motion and uneven mass induced vibrations, produced by the main rotor during the vertical movement around the lateral axis of the TRMS rig. 2-impulse, 3-impulse and 4-impulse sequence input shapers and Iow-pass and band-stop digital filters are developed to shape the command signals such that the resonance modes are not overly excited. The effectiveness of this concept is then demonstrated in both simulation and real-time experimental environments in terms of level of vibration reduction using power spectral density profiles of the system response. Combinations of intelligent and conventional techniques are commonly used the control of complex dynamic systems. Such hybrid schemes have proved to be efficient and can overcome the deficiencies of conventional and intelligent controllers alone. The current study is confined to the development of two forms of hybrid control schemes that combine fuzzy control and conventional PID compensator for input tracking performance. The two hybrid control strategies comprising conventional PO control plus PlO compensator and PO-type fuzzy control plus PlO compensator are developed and implemented for set-point tracking control of the vertical movement of the TRMS rig. It is observed that the hybrid control schemes are superior to other feedback control strategies namely, PlO compensator, pure PO-type and PI-type fuzzy controllers in terms of time domain system behaviour. This research also witnesses investigations into the development of an augmented feedforward and feedback control scheme (AFFCS) for the control of rigid body motion and vibration suppression of the TRMS. The main goal of this framework is to satisfy performance objectives in terms of robust command tracking, fast system response and minimum residual vibration. The developed control strategies have been designed and implemented within both simulation and real-time environments of the TRMS rig. The employed control strategies are shown to demonstrate acceptable performances. The obtained results show that much improved tracking is achieved on positive and negative cycles of the reference signal, as compared to that without any control action. The system performance with the feedback controller is significantly improved when the feedforward control component is added. This leads to the conclusion that augmenting feedback control with feedforward method can lead to more practical and accurate control of flexible systems such as the TRMS

A novel hybrid bacteria-chemotaxis spiral-dynamic algorithm with application to modelling of flexible systems

This paper presents a novel hybrid optimisation algorithm namely HBCSD, which synergises a bacterial foraging algorithm (BFA) and spiral dynamics algorithm (SDA). The main objective of this strategy is to develop an algorithm that is capable to reach a global optimum point at the end of the final solution with a faster convergence speed compared to its predecessor algorithms. The BFA is incorporated into the algorithm to act as a global search or exploration phase. The solutions from the exploration phase then feed into SDA, which acts as a local search or exploitation phase. The proposed algorithm is used in dynamic modelling of two types of flexible systems, namely a flexible robot manipulator and a twin rotor system. The results obtained show that the proposed algorithm outperforms its predecessor algorithms in terms of fitness accuracy, convergence speed, and time-domain and frequency-domain dynamic characterisation of the two flexible systems. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd

Hybrid active force control for fixed based rotorcraft

Disturbances are considered major challenges faced in the deployment of rotorcraft unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) systems. Among different types of rotorcraft systems, the twin-rotor helicopter and quadrotor models are considered the most versatile flying machines nowadays due to their range of applications in the civilian and military sectors. However, these systems are multivariate and highly non-linear, making them difficult to be accurately controlled. Their performance could be further compromised when they are operated in the presence of disturbances or uncertainties. This dissertation presents an innovative hybrid control scheme for rotorcraft systems to improve disturbance rejection capability while maintaining system stability, based on a technique called active force control (AFC) via simulation and experimental works. A detailed dynamic model of each aerial system was derived based on the Euler–Lagrange and Newton-Euler methods, taking into account various assumptions and conditions. As a result of the derived models, a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller was designed to achieve the required altitude and attitude motions. Due to the PID's inability to reject applied disturbances, the AFC strategy was incorporated with the designed PID controller, to be known as the PID-AFC scheme. To estimate control parameters automatically, a number of artificial intelligence algorithms were employed in this study, namely the iterative learning algorithm and fuzzy logic. Intelligent rules of these AI algorithms were designed and embedded into the AFC loop, identified as intelligent active force control (IAFC)-based methods. This involved, PID-iterative learning active force control (PID-ILAFC) and PID-fuzzy logic active force control (PID-FLAFC) schemes. To test the performance and robustness of these proposed hybrid control systems, several disturbance models were introduced, namely the sinusoidal wave, pulsating, and Dryden wind gust model disturbances. Integral square error was selected as the index performance to compare between the proposed control schemes. In this study, the effectiveness of the PID-ILAFC strategy in connection with the body jerk performance was investigated in the presence of applied disturbance. In terms of experimental work, hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) experimental tests were conducted for a fixed-base rotorcraft UAV system to investigate how effective are the proposed hybrid PID-ILAFC schemes in disturbance rejection. Simulated results, in time domains, reveal the efficacy of the proposed hybrid IAFC-based control methods in the cancellation of different applied disturbances, while preserving the stability of the rotorcraft system, as compared to the conventional PID controller. In most of the cases, the simulated results show a reduction of more than 55% in settling time. In terms of body jerk performance, it was improved by around 65%, for twin-rotor helicopter system, and by a 45%, for quadrotor system. To achieve the best possible performance, results recommend using the full output signal produced by the AFC strategy according to the sensitivity analysis. The HIL experimental tests results demonstrate that the PID-ILAFC method can improve the disturbance rejection capability when compared to other control systems and show good agreement with the simulated counterpart. However, the selection of the appropriate learning parameters and initial conditions is viewed as a crucial step toward this improved performance

Evolutionary Neuro-Computing Approaches to System Identification

System models are essentially required for analysis, controller design and future prediction. System identification is concerned with developing models of physical system. Although linear system identification got enriched with several useful classical methods, nonlinear system identification always remained active area of research due to the reason that most of the real world systems are nonlinear in nature and moreover, having non-unique models. Among the several conventional system identification techniques, the Volterra series, Hammerstein-Wiener and polynomial model identification involve considerable computational complexities. The other techniques based on regression models such as nonlinear autoregressive exogenous (NARX) and nonlinear autoregressive moving average exogenous (NARMAX), also suffer from dfficulty in choosing regressors

Optimal Controller Design for Twin Rotor MIMO System

Twin Rotor MIMO system (TRMS) is considered as a prototype model of Helicopter. The aim of studying the TRMS model and designing the controller for controlling the response of TRMS is that it provides a platform for controlling the flight of Helicopter. In this work, the non-linear model of Twin Rotor MIMO system has been linearized and expressed in state space form. For controlling action a Linear Quadratic Gaussian (LQG) compensator has been designed for a multi input multi output Twin Rotor system. Two degree of freedom dynamic model involving Pitch and Yaw motion has been considered for controller design. The two stage design process consists of the design of an optimal Linear Quadratic Regulator followed by the design of an observer (Kalman filter) for estimating the non-accessible state variable from noisy output measurement. LQR parameter i.e. Q and R are varied randomly to get the desired response. Later an evolutionary optimization technique i.e. Bacterial Foraging Optimization (BFO) algorithm has been used for optimizing the Q and R parameter of Linear Quadratic Gaussian compensator. Simulation studies reveal the appropriateness of the proposed controller in meeting the desired specifications

Performance-based health monitoring, diagnostics and prognostics for condition-based maintenance of gas turbines: A review

With the privatization and intense competition that characterize the volatile energy sector, the gas turbine industry currently faces new challenges of increasing operational flexibility, reducing operating costs, improving reliability and availability while mitigating the environmental impact. In this complex, changing sector, the gas turbine community could address a set of these challenges by further development of high fidelity, more accurate and computationally efficient engine health assessment, diagnostic and prognostic systems. Recent studies have shown that engine gas-path performance monitoring still remains the cornerstone for making informed decisions in operation and maintenance of gas turbines. This paper offers a systematic review of recently developed engine performance monitoring, diagnostic and prognostic techniques. The inception of performance monitoring and its evolution over time, techniques used to establish a high-quality dataset using engine model performance adaptation, and effects of computationally intelligent techniques on promoting the implementation of engine fault diagnosis are reviewed. Moreover, recent developments in prognostics techniques designed to enhance the maintenance decision-making scheme and main causes of gas turbine performance deterioration are discussed to facilitate the fault identification module. The article aims to organize, evaluate and identify patterns and trends in the literature as well as recognize research gaps and recommend new research areas in the field of gas turbine performance-based monitoring. The presented insightful concepts provide experts, students or novice researchers and decision-makers working in the area of gas turbine engines with the state of the art for performance-based condition monitoring

Machine Learning for Design Optimization of Electromagnetic Devices: Recent Developments and Future Directions

This paper reviews the recent developments of design optimization methods for electromagnetic devices, with a focus on machine learning methods. First, the recent advances in multi-objective, multidisciplinary, multilevel, topology, fuzzy, and robust design optimization of electromagnetic devices are overviewed. Second, a review is presented to the performance prediction and design optimization of electromagnetic devices based on the machine learning algorithms, including artificial neural network, support vector machine, extreme learning machine, random forest, and deep learning. Last, to meet modern requirements of high manufacturing/production quality and lifetime reliability, several promising topics, including the application of cloud services and digital twin, are discussed as future directions for design optimization of electromagnetic devices

Model Identification and Robust Nonlinear Model Predictive Control of a Twin Rotor MIMO System

PhDThis thesis presents an investigation into a number of model predictive control (MPC) paradigms for a nonlinear aerodynamics test rig, a twin rotor multi-input multi-output system (TRMS). To this end, the nonlinear dynamic model of the system is developed using various modelling techniques. A comprehensive study is made to compare these models and to select the best one to be used for control design purpose. On the basis of the selected model, a state-feedback multistep Newton-type MPC is developed and its stability is addressed using a terminal equality constraint approach. Moreover, the state-feedback control approach is combined with a nonlinear state observer to form an output-feedback MPC. Finally, a robust MPC technique is employed to address the uncertainties of the system. In the modelling stage, analytical models are developed by extracting the physical equations of the system using the Newtonian and Lagrangian approaches. In the case of the black-box modelling, artificial neural networks (ANNs) are utilised to model the TRMS. Finally, the grey-box model is used to enhance the performance of the white-box model developed earlier through the optimisation of parameters using a genetic algorithm (GA) based approach. Stability analysis of the autonomous TRMS is carried out before designing any control paradigms for the system. In the control design stage, an MPC method is proposed for constrained nonlinear systems, which is the improvement of the multistep Newton-type control strategy. The stability of the proposed state-feedback MPC is guaranteed using terminal equality constraints. Moreover, the formerly proposed MPC algorithm is combined with an unscented Kalman filter (UKF) to formulate an output-feedback MPC. An extended Kalman filter (EKF) based on a state-dependent model is also introduced, whose performance is found to be better compared to that of the UKF. Finally, a robust MPC is introduced and implemented on the TRMS based on a polytopic uncertainty that is cast into linear matrix inequalities (LMI)