Assignment

Question 1: Control of hot air balloon (65 marks)

The state space model to describe the dynamics of a hot air balloon is
given as:
   1      
Ṫ (t) − τ1 0 0 T (t) α 0
 v̇(t)  =  β − 1 0  v(t)  +  0  u(t) +  1  w(t) (1)
τ2 τ2
ḣ(t) 0 1 0 h(t) 0 0
where the state variable T (t) is the temperature change of air in the balloon,
u(t) is the manipulated variable and is proportional to change in heat added
to air balloon, v(t) is the vertical velocity of the balloon, h(t) is the change in
altitude from steady-state altitude, w(t) is the vertical wind velocity, which
is the disturbance for the control problem. The normalized constants in the
model are τ1 = 1, τ2 = 10, α = 1 and β = 0.01.
1. Can we measure velocity v(t) and temperature T (t) and construct an
observer to estimate the altitude h(t)? why? (5 marks)
2. Assume that T (t), v(t) and h(t) are measured. Design a state feed-
back control for the air balloon, where the closed-loop poles are posi-
tioned at −2. Simulate the closed-loop response with initial conditions
T (0) = v(0) = h(0) = 1 without the wind disturbance. In the simula-
tion, simulation time T sim = 20 and ∆t = 0.001. Present closed-loop
responses of the three state variables and the control signal (10 marks).
3. Generate a wind disturbance using the following code:

dis=10*randn(1,length(t));
dis=filter(0.01,[1 -0.99],dis);
dis=dis+2*[zeros(1,(length(t)-1)/2) ones(1,(length(t)+1)/2)];

Add this wind disturbance to the simulation from the previous ques-
tion. Present closed-loop responses of the three state variables and the
control signal, and discuss your results (10 marks). MATLAB Program
is required for this question.
 4. In order to save the cost for the air balloon controller, we only measure
the altitude h(t). Design an observer to estimate T (t) and v(t) where all
closed-loop poles are positioned at −10. In order for the state feedback
control system to reject the wind disturbance, we will put an integrator
into the controller. Design the state feedback controller K with integral
action where all closed-loop poles are positioned at −2. Present Kob
and K values (10 marks).
5. Simulate the closed-loop response with reference signal to h(t) is zero
with the same wind disturbance. Present closed-loop responses of the
three state variables and the control signal, and discuss your results
and compare the results with the case without integral action in the
controller. What are your observations? (10 marks)
6. Simulate the closed-loop response with reference signal to h(t) is one
with the same wind disturbance. Also the control signal is constrained
between ±100. Present the closed-loop response of the altitude and
the control signal. What are your observations? (20 marks) MATLAB
program is required for this question.

Question 2. Control of three spring and double mass system (35

marks)

A three spring and double mass system is illustrated in Figure 1. In this

figure, the two blocks are with mass M1 and M2 , and there are two spring
constants α1 for the right and left springs, α2 for the middle spring. The
manipulated variables are the two applied forces u1 and u2 and the output
variables are the distances of the mass block movement y1 corresponding to
block one and y2 corresponding to block two.
We consider the simplified spring force f1 where f1 = α1 d1 and d1 is the
distance of the mass movement, and apply Newton’s law 1 to the first block
to obtain the following equation:
d2 y1 (t)
u1 (t) − α1 y1 (t) − α2 (y1(t) − y2 (t)) = M1 (2)
dt2
1
F=Ma, where F is the total force, M is the mass and a is the acceleration
where the first term represents the first external force, the second and third
terms represent the forces from spring 1 and spring 2, respectively. The right
handside of (2) is the multiplication of the mass and acceleration of the block
1. Similarly, by applying Newton’s law to the second block, we obtain
d2 y2 (t)
u2 (t) − α1 y2 (t) + α2 (y1 (t) − y2 (t)) = M2 (3)
dt2
where the first term represents the second external force, the second and the
third terms are the forces generated from spring 3 and spring 2. The right
handside of (3) is the multiplication of mass and acceleration of the block 2.
To convert these two equations into a state space model, two intermittent
variables are chosen to reduce the second derivatives to first derivatives.
Let x1 (t) = y1 (t), x2 (t) = ẏ1 (t) = ẋ1 (t). Thus, ẋ2 (t) = ẍ1 (t). Similarly,
x3 (t) = y2 (t), and x4 (t) = ẏ2 (t) = ẋ3 (t). Thus, ẋ4 (t) = ẍ3 (t). The state
space model is obtained as follows:
      
ẋ1 (t) 0 1 0 0 x1 (t) 0 0 
− α1 +α2 0 α2  x2 (t)  1

ẋ2 (t)
M M
0 M
0  u1 (t)
ẋ3 (t) =  0
   1 1  + 1  (4)
0 0 1 x3 (t)  0 0  u2 (t)
α2
ẋ4 (t) M2
0 − α1M+α 2
2
0 x4 (t) 0 M12
 
    x1 (t)
y1 (t) 1 0 0 0  x2 (t)

= (5)
y2 (t) 0 0 1 0 x3 (t)
x4 (t)
The physical parameters are M1 = 2kg, M2 = 4kg, α1 = 30N/m and α2 =
90N/m. The following tasks are completed by writing MATLAB programs.
1. Determine the eigenvalues of the spring-mass system (5 marks).
2. Determine the controllability and observability of this system (5 marks).

Figure 1: Three springs and double mass system

 3. Design a state estimate feedback control system to stabilize this spring-
mass plant using MATLAB place.m function where the closed-loop
control system has poles at −3, −3.1, −3.2, −3.3 and the observer
error system has poles −6, −6.1, −6.2, −6.3. (10 marks ) (Note that
we do not put integrators into the design because we only want to
stabilize this system).

4. We assume that x1 (0) = 0.5 and x3 (0) = 0.1, x2 (0) = x4 (0) = 0, and
x̂1 (0) = x̂2 (0) = x̂3 (0) = x̂4 (0) = 0. With sampling interval ∆t =
0.001 (sec) and simulation time Tsim = 3 (sec), simulate the closed-
loop response of the spring-mass system and present the responses of
the four state variables in response to the initial conditions of system.
(10 marks). MATLAB program is required for this question.

5. Where are the closed-loop poles for this state estimate feedback control
system? (5 marks)

A word document with the figures and discussions is required together

with the MATLAB programs for the submission.