Disturbance Observer-based Robust Control and Its Applications: 35th Anniversary Overview

Disturbance Observer has been one of the most widely used robust control tools since it was proposed in 1983. This paper introduces the origins of Disturbance Observer and presents a survey of the major results on Disturbance Observer-based robust control in the last thirty-five years. Furthermore, it explains the analysis and synthesis techniques of Disturbance Observer-based robust control for linear and nonlinear systems by using a unified framework. In the last section, this paper presents concluding remarks on Disturbance Observer-based robust control and its engineering applications.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

A new functional observer to estimate velocity, acceleration and disturbance for motion control systems

This paper presents a novel functional observer which can observe the velocity, acceleration and disturbance information of a motion control system with higher accuracy and less noise in comparison to classical observers. The observer uses the input current and position information and the nominal parameters of the plant. The novelty of the observer is based on its functional structure that can intrinsically estimate and compensate the un-measured inputs (like disturbance acting on the system) using the measured input current. The experimental results of the proposed estimator verifies its success in estimating the velocity, acceleration and disturbance with better precision than classical observers

Functional observers for motion control systems

This paper presents a novel functional observer for motion control systems to provide higher accuracy and less noise in comparison to existing observers. The observer uses the input current and position information along with the nominal parameters of the plant and can observe the velocity, acceleration and disturbance information of the system. The novelty of the observer is based on its functional structure that can intrinsically estimate and compensate the un-measured inputs (like disturbance acting on the system) using the measured input current. The experimental results of the proposed estimator verifies its success in estimating the velocity, acceleration and disturbance with better precision than other second order observers

Practical Solutions to the Non-Minimum Phase and Vibration Problems Under the Disturbance Rejection Paradigm

This dissertation tackles two kinds of control problems under the disturbance rejection paradigm (DRP): 1) the general problem of non-minimum phase (NMP) systems, such as systems with right half plane (RHP) zeros and those with time delay 2) the specific problem of vibration, a prevailing problem facing practicing engineers in the real world of industrial control. It is shown that the DRP brings to the table a refreshingly novel way of thinking in tackling the persistently challenging problems in control. In particular, the problem of NMP has confounded researchers for decades in trying to find a satisfactory solution that is both rigorous and practical. The active disturbance rejection control (ADRC), originated from DRP, provides a potential solution. Even more intriguingly, the DRP provides a new framework to tackle the ubiquitous problem of vibration, whether it is found in the resonant modes in industrial motion control with compliant load, which is almost always the case, or in the microphonics of superconducting radio frequency (SRF) cavities in high energy particle accelerators. That is, whether the vibration is caused by the environment or by the characteristics of process dynamics, DRP provides a single framework under which the problem is better understood and resolved. New solutions are tested and validated in both simulations and experiments, demonstrating the superiority of the new design over the previous ones. For systems with time delay, the stability characteristic of the proposed solution is analyze

Practical Solutions to the Non-Minimum Phase and Vibration Problems Under the Disturbance Rejection Paradigm

This dissertation tackles two kinds of control problems under the disturbance rejection paradigm (DRP): 1) the general problem of non-minimum phase (NMP) systems, such as systems with right half plane (RHP) zeros and those with time delay 2) the specific problem of vibration, a prevailing problem facing practicing engineers in the real world of industrial control. It is shown that the DRP brings to the table a refreshingly novel way of thinking in tackling the persistently challenging problems in control. In particular, the problem of NMP has confounded researchers for decades in trying to find a satisfactory solution that is both rigorous and practical. The active disturbance rejection control (ADRC), originated from DRP, provides a potential solution. Even more intriguingly, the DRP provides a new framework to tackle the ubiquitous problem of vibration, whether it is found in the resonant modes in industrial motion control with compliant load, which is almost always the case, or in the microphonics of superconducting radio frequency (SRF) cavities in high energy particle accelerators. That is, whether the vibration is caused by the environment or by the characteristics of process dynamics, DRP provides a single framework under which the problem is better understood and resolved. New solutions are tested and validated in both simulations and experiments, demonstrating the superiority of the new design over the previous ones. For systems with time delay, the stability characteristic of the proposed solution is analyze

An enhanced DC-link voltage response for wind-driven doubly fed induction generator using adaptive fuzzy extended state observer and sliding mode control

This paper presents an enhancement method to improve the performance of the DC-link voltage loop regulation in a Doubly-Fed Induction Generator (DFIG)- based wind energy converter. An intelligent, combined control approach based on a metaheuristics-tuned Second-Order Sliding Mode (SOSM) controller and an adaptive fuzzy-scheduled Extended State Observer (ESO) is proposed and successfully applied. The proposed fuzzy gains-scheduling mechanism is performed to adaptively tune and update the bandwidth of the ESO while disturbances occur. Besides common time-domain performance indexes, bounded limitations on the effective parameters of the designed Super Twisting (STA)-based SOSM controllers are set thanks to the Lyapunov theory and used as nonlinear constraints for the formulated hard optimization control problem. A set of advanced metaheuristics, such as Thermal Exchange Optimization (TEO), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Genetic Algorithm (GA), Harmony Search Algorithm (HSA), Water Cycle Algorithm (WCA), and Grasshopper Optimization Algorithm (GOA), is considered to solve the constrained optimization problem. Demonstrative simulation results are carried out to show the superiority and effectiveness of the proposed control scheme in terms of grid disturbances rejection, closed-loop tracking performance, and robustness against the chattering phenomenon. Several comparisons to our related works, i.e., approaches based on TEO-tuned PI controller, TEO-tuned STA-SOSM controller, and STA-SOSM controller-based linear observer, are presented and discussed

Robust hovering and trajectory tracking control of a quadrotor helicopter using acceleration feedback and a novel disturbance observer

Hovering and trajectory tracking control of rotary-wing aircrafts in the presence of uncertainties and external disturbances is a very challenging task. This thesis focuses on the development of the robust hovering and trajectory tracking control algorithms for a quadrotor helicopter subject to both periodic and aperiodic disturbances along with noise and parametric uncertainties. A hierarchical control structure is employed where high-level position controllers produce reference attitude angles for the low-level attitude controllers. Reference attitude angles are usually determined analytically from the position command signals that control the positional dynamics. However, such analytical formulas may produce large and non-smooth reference angles which must be saturated and low-pass filtered. In this thesis, desired attitude angles are determined numerically using constrained nonlinear optimization where certain magnitude and rate constraints are imposed. Furthermore, an acceleration based disturbance observer (AbDOB) is designed to estimate and suppress disturbances acting on the positional dynamics of the quadrotor. For the attitude control, a nested position, velocity, and inner acceleration feedback control structure consisting of PID and PI type controllers are developed to provide high sti ness against external disturbances. Reliable angular acceleration is estimated through an extended Kalman filter (EKF) cascaded with a classical Kalman lter (KF). This thesis also proposes a novel disturbance observer which consists of a bank of band-pass filters connected parallel to the low-pass filter of a classical disturbance observer. Band-pass filters are centered at integer multiples of the fundamental frequency of the periodic disturbance. Number and bandwidth of the band-pass filters are two crucial parameters to be tuned in the implementation of the new structure. Proposed disturbance observer is integrated with a sliding mode controller to tackle the robust hovering and trajectory tracking control problem. The sensitivity of the proposed disturbance observer based control system to the number and bandwidth of the band-pass filters are thoroughly investigated via several simulations. Simulations are carried out on a high delity model where sensor biases and measurement noise are also considered. Results show that the proposed controllers are very effective in providing robust hovering and trajectory tracking performance when the quadrotor helicopter is subject to the wind gusts generated by the Dryden wind model along with plant uncertainties and measurement noise. A comparison with the classical disturbance observer-based control is also provided where better tracking performance with improved robustness is achieved in the presence of noise and external disturbance

Nonlinear Receding-Horizon Control of Rigid Link Robot Manipulators

The approximate nonlinear receding-horizon control law is used to treat the trajectory tracking control problem of rigid link robot manipulators. The derived nonlinear predictive law uses a quadratic performance index of the predicted tracking error and the predicted control effort. A key feature of this control law is that, for their implementation, there is no need to perform an online optimization, and asymptotic tracking of smooth reference trajectories is guaranteed. It is shown that this controller achieves the positions tracking objectives via link position measurements. The stability convergence of the output tracking error to the origin is proved. To enhance the robustness of the closed loop system with respect to payload uncertainties and viscous friction, an integral action is introduced in the loop. A nonlinear observer is used to estimate velocity. Simulation results for a two-link rigid robot are performed to validate the performance of the proposed controller. Keywords: receding-horizon control, nonlinear observer, robot manipulators, integral action, robustness