COMPENSATION TECHNIQUES FOR A VEHICLE SYSTEM

DRIVEN BY INDEPENDENT DC MOTORS

MOHAMMED AFZAL BIYABANI (EE)

G200904750
KING FAHD UNIVERSITY OF PETROLEUM AND MINERALS (KFUPM)

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 Title:

Compensation Techniques for a Vehicle System Driven by Independent DC Motors:

Abstract:

Two independent DC motors are used to drive a vehicle system. These motors are used
for the left and the right wheels of the vehicle respectively. Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy
system is proposed to develop an adaptive compensator in order to control the vehicle.
The compensator includes an adaptive model identifier and adaptive controller. The
parameters of the identifier model are adjusted by an online method to match the
behavior model of the vehicle system. Then for the closed loop vehicle drive system,
where in the velocity and directions are controlled; the identifier parameters model are
employed in a standard parallel-distributed compensator to provide asymptotically
stable equilibrium. The results show that the proposed controller is robust to load
changes and also it follows different trajectories very well.

Introduction:

Due to advancement in the technology of both hardware and software Automated

Guided Vehicle (AGV) system has replaced many convectional non-automated
materials handling system, such as rolling carts, conveyor belts and forklifts. An AGV
can also be called a laser guided vehicle (LGV) or self-guided vehicle (SGV). AGV
system had found its application in many industries. The main tasks of AGVs are to
pick up parts or items at certain points and drop them off at others. AGV systems offer
several advantages over conveyor belts and forklifts, such as higher flexibility, less
space utilization, and more safety and lower operating costs. However the costs of the
AGV system are relatively high when compared to the conventional systems; but the
investment seems to be worthwhile only if the system is used intensively and
efficiently. AGV system can also be programmed; to perform automatic routing and
positioning. Computer controlled AGVs will not require any manual handling to
perform tasks. All the tasks of the AGV will be controlled by the computer. AGVs can
also be programmed to follow markers or wires on the floor, or use vision of lasers.
Following complex paths the objective is to transfer loads to remote areas under
computer control. Conveyors doesn’t give flexibility for such an operation and Robots
doesn’t offer mobility.

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AGV system has attracted many researchers. The three areas which attracted the
researchers the most are 1) Construction 2) Management and 3) Control of the AGVs.
Due to changes in the dynamics of load, the control method selected is very important
in order to withstand dynamics. The parameters of the system changes due to
disturbances during the operation with time and also because of dynamics changes that
comes from load with time to time. It has a great theoretical meaning and practical
value in solving the control problem of the vehicle systems. Therefore, the control type
can be chosen properly to overcome parameter change and sudden disturbance.

Components of AGVs:

 Main components of Automated Guided Vehicle can be divided into following:

 The Vehicle – No operator

 The guide path – The path for the AGV

 The control unit – Monitors and Directs system operations including feedback
on moves, inventory, and vehicle status.

 The computer interface – Interfaces with other mainframe host computer, the
automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS), and the flexible manufacturing
system.

Adaptive Control:

Adaptive control involves modifying the control law used by a controller to cope with
the fact that the parameters of the system being controlled are slowly time-varying or
uncertain. For example, as an aircraft flies, its mass will slowly decrease as a result of
fuel consumption; we need a control law that adapts itself to such changing conditions.
Adaptive control is different from robust control in the sense that it does not need a
priori information about the bounds on these uncertain or time-varying parameters;
robust control guarantees that if the changes are within given bounds the control law
need not be changed, while adaptive control is precisely concerned with control law
changes.

An adaptive controller is a controller with adjustable parameters and a mechanism for

adjusting the parameters. An adaptive Control system can be thought of as having two
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loops. One loop is a normal feedback with the process and the controller. The other
loop is the parameter adjustment loop. Block diagram of an adaptive system is shown
in the below figure.

Classification of adaptive control techniques:

In general one should distinguish between:

1. Feed forward Adaptive Control

2. Feedback Adaptive Control

AGV Model:

Consider a vehicle which has a four-wheeled configuration as shown in the Figure 1.0.
There are two controlled wheels on front and two uncontrolled wheels on back of the
vehicle.

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 Fig 1. AGV Model and its Coordinates System

Using Motion Equations we can write the linear velocity of Right and Left wheel as,
VR  RR (1)
VL  RL (2)
respectively. Then the average linear velocity of both wheels can be written as, x

VR  VL
V 
2
R
 (R  L )
2 (3)
Change in direction of the vehicle with respect to angular velocities can be given as,
d R
 (R  L )
dt L (4)
Let VX and VY be the velocity component in X and Y direction respectively,
dx
 Vx  V cos( )
dt
R
 (R  L ) cos( )
2 (5)
dy
 Vy  V sin( )
dt
R
 (R  L ) sin( )
2 (6)

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Each of the front wheel is independent and are driven by separately excited DC motors ,
through a gear box. The torque transferred from the motor to gearbox can be written as
follows:

d 2 m d m
Tm  J m  Bm  TLOAD
dt 2 dt (7)
Where,
d 2 m d m m
TLOAD  n 2 J 2  n 2
B  nF
| m |
2 C
dt 2 dt (8)
Where, FC is the Coulomb torque constant
n is the reduction ratio of the gearbox

Substitute TLOAD into motor torque Tm we get,

d 2 m
Tm  ( J m  n J 2 )
2

dt 2
d m
 ( Bm  n 2 B2 )  nFC sign(m )
dt (9)
Above equation can be deduced to,

d 2 m d m
2
 1   2 sign(m )  3Tm
dt dt (10)
Where,
( Bm  n 2 B2 )
1 
( J m  n2 J 2 )
nFC
2 
( J m  n2 J 2 )
1
3 
( J m  n2 J 2 ) (11)
From above equations we can write the angular velocities of Right and Left wheel as,
i.e., from Eq. (10)
  R  1R   2 sign(R )  3TR
(12)
 L  1L   2 sign(L )  3TL (13)
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 , (4), (12) and (13)
And from Eq. (3)
R R
v  (
R L)  [1 (R  L )
2 2
 2 ( sign(R )  sign(L ))
3 (TR  TL )] (14)
R R
  (
R  L )  [ 1 (R  L )
L L
 2 ( sign(R )  sign(L ))
3 (TR  TL )] (15)
Where η1, η2, η3 are constants and ωR and ωL are the right and left wheel angular
velocity, respectively.

Control of the Vehicle System:

As shown in the vehicle control system block diagram, the two outputs of the
controller are used to calculate the torque of each motor.The torque equation for each
wheel is given as:

Right wheel torque: TR = (1/2)*(uv+uϕ) (16)

Left wheel torque: TL = (1/2)*(uv-uϕ) (17)

The below shows the control of the vehicle system depends on the direction angle (ϕ)
control and vehicle velocity control (v). Actual velocity, actual angle and their
reference values are used by the controller. Adaptive controller controls velocity and
angle that produces 2 outputs (uv and uϕ).

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An Adaptive compensator based on fuzzy identifier and controller for
the vehicle system:

Using Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy systems, an adaptive compensator is proposed for vehicle

control system. With the help of System identification, a Takagi-Sugeno model is
found for the plant.Global asymptotically equilibirium is obtained by constructing
compensator for the closed loop system. The parameters of Takagi-Sugeno are adjusted
by using an online method in order to match the behaviour of the system. The
parameters of the identifier model are employed in a standard paralle-distributed
compensator by using certainty
equivalence principles. In this way, the identifier model does not need to have any
initial knowledge about the vehicle system. As the identifier becomes more accurate,
the controller parameters of the compensator will be adjusted, and the controller will
succeed.With this approach proposed, the closed-loop system will be immune to
disturbance, parameter uncertainties and load changes.

Fuzzy Identifier model:

Takagi–Sugeno fuzzy system has any linear mapping as its output function.
Considering this fuzzy system as a nonlinear interpolator between R linear systems,
one mapping is to have a linear dynamic systems the output function so that the ith rule
has the following form(one rule of identifier model would be):

which is formed as discrete-time linear systems. Here, uv(k) and uj(k) are the plant
inputs and v(k) and j(k) are plant outputs. A i and Bi are the linguistic values; ai, bi, ci,
di, (i = 1,2 ,y…,R) are the parameters of the consequents. V i(k+1) and ϕi(k+1) 1Þ are
the identifier model outputs considering only rule i. Suppose that µ i denotes premise
certainty for the rule i. Using center-average defuzzification, we get the following
identifier model outputs:

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 (18), (19)

Let us define followings,

(20)

(21)
Then,

(22),(23)
where v(k+1) and ϕ(k+1) are the identifier model outputs. ơ v, ơϕ, λv and λϕ,are defined
as

(24),(25),(26)&(27)

An on-line method, recursive least square (RLS) is used to adjust the a i, bi, ci and di
parameters since they enter linearly. The RLS algorithm with update formulas is given
by

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 (28) to (33)
where I is the identity matrix and ρ is the weighting factor. Note that we have adjusted
the time indices in these equations to solve the identification problem and to estimate
the output of the identifier model, i.e. v(k+1) and ϕ(k+1).

Design of fuzzy controller:

For the controller, we use Takagi–Sugeno rules in the form

where v*(k) and ϕ*(k) are the reference values of v(k) and ϕ(k): u vi(k) and uϕi(k) which
are controller outputs considering rule i, They are linear functions of their arguments
that depend on reference inputs and past plant outputs. Our controllers that are tuned
are given by

(34),(35)
The Gaussian input membership functions on the universes of discourse v(k) and ϕ(k)
are used in the form

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 (36),(37)
As there is only one input, the membership function certainty is the premise
membership function certainty for a rule

and

These cause saturation of the outermost input membership functions. Now using a
certainty equivalence approach for the controller system, view each rule of the
controller as if it controls only one rule of the plant and assume identifier to be
accurate. In particular, Assume that v`(k) = v(k) and v’ i(k) = vi(k), where vi(k)
represents ith component of the plant model, so that the identifier also perfectly
estimates the dynamics represented by each rule in the plant.operation of th plant near
its ith rule and there is little or no affect from its other rules, then v (k) = vi(k).
Thus we obtain

(38)

We pick k1i and k2i for each i = 1,2 ,…,R such that the pole of the closed-loop system is
at 0.1 and the steady-state error between v*(k) and v(k) is equal to zero. In particular, if
Vi(k) and V*(k) are the z-transforms of vi(k) and v*(k), respectively then,

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 (39)

Choose K2ibi - ai = -0.1 (40)

In order to get the pole placement,

Picking

(41)

where subscript i = 1,2,...,R at each time step using the estimates of a i and bi from the
identifier. Ensure bi>0 that could be done by specifying a priori some ¯b>0: By adding
a rule to the adaptation scheme that if at some time the RLS updates any bi so that it
becomes less b, we let it equal ¯b: In this way, the lowest value bi will take ¯b.

To have a zero steady-state error, we want v i(k+1) = vi(k) = v*(k) for a large k and i =
1,2 ,…,R.
From Eq. (38)

(42)
Thus, our controller designer will choose

(43)
Eqs. (41) and (43) specify the controller designer for the indirect adaptive scheme,
values of ai and bi are provided by identifier at each time step so that k 1i and k2i can be
updated at each time step. Note that the modifications to Eq. (41) with ¯b will also
ensure that Eq. (43) will not be divided by zero.
The above approach that is used to calculate the gains of the u v(k) can be used to obtain
the gains of the controller uϕ(k) and they can be defined as follows

(44)

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 (45)

We have used three rules for fuzzy identifier and controller (R = 3). We choose λ v(0) =
[0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10] T, λϕ(0) = [0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10] T, Pv(0) = 2000I; Pϕ(0) = 2000I and ρ = 1;
where I is the identity matrix. The choice of λ v(0) and λϕ(0) is arbitrary. α1 = -1, α2 = 0,
α3 = 1 and ϒ1 = 0:5; ϒ2 = 0.5 are defined for membership functions. The results of the
RLS-based adaptive fuzzy control of the vehicle systemare shown in Figs. 3–5.
Fig 3. Shows the performance of the controller for a trapezoidal velocity reference and
a sinusoidal direction angle reference at the same time. It can be seen that for the
complex references the responses of the vehicle system are very good and robust. The
trapezoidal reference is important as the control system is tested for an increasing and
decreasing velocity period. Also, a sinusoidal reference is chosen for the angle of
vehicle direction that is very complex path for the direction control. Although both the
references of trapezoidal velocity and sinusoidal direction angle are applied to the
vehicle systemat the same time, the response of the control systemis very satisfactory
and the controller signals are smooth and continuous. Fig. 4 shows the trajectory
response of the vehicle system for the references given in Fig. 3. It seems that both the
reference and calculated trajectories are on top of each other. The control system is
tested under loading conditions and sudden changes of references in Fig. 5. Fig 5
shows, a load is applied to the vehicle at 5th second and it is demonstrated that the
control input produces a sharp and robust response that prevent the overshoots and
deeps at vehicle velocity variations. In addition, as seen from Fig. 5, when the
references of the velocity and direction angle are changed suddenly at every 10th
second, the controller is still observed to produce responses very well.

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 Fig. 3. Response of the controller for the trapezoidal and sinusoidal references.
(a) variations of actual and reference velocities (v, v r), (b) variations of actual and reference direction
angles (ϕr, ϕ), (c) control input (uv), (d) control input (uϕ).

Fig. 4. Trajectory tracking response of the vehicle control system .

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 Fig. 5. Response of the adaptive fuzzy controller for step references. (a) variations of the
actual and reference velocities (v, vr), (b) variations of the actual and reference direction angles
(ϕr, ϕ), (c) control input (uv), (d) control input (uϕ).

Model using Lead-Lag Compensator:

Fig 6. Lead Lag Compensator Design

The block diagram consists of following components:

 Reference trajectory generator

 Comparator
 Lead – Lag Compensator
 Vehicle System

Reference Trajectory Generator: It provides the reference inputs to the comparator of

the developed model. If the reference input is instead changed smoothly by generation
of a reference trajectory, the saturation of the control signal can be avoided, and the
response can be improved.

Comparator: A Comparator is a device which compares two signals and switches its
output to indicate which is larger. Here, the function of Comparator is to compare the
reference input and the output signal which is given as an input the Lead - Lag
Compensator block.

Lead – Lag Compensator: A lead–lag compensator is a component in a control system

that improves an undesirable frequency response in a feedback and control system. It is
a fundamental building block in classical control theory. Here, we have designed the
compensator such that it receives the input from Comparator, then its parameters are
tuned (adjustment mechanism) in such a way the output of the compensator is given to
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the Vehicle system and then the time varying parameters of vehicle system are
controlled by the Compensator.

Vehicle System: The designed vehicle system receives the input signal from lead lad
compensator and the ouput is controlled if there are any changes in the systems speed
with respect to the desired speed. If the desired speed is same as the Vehicle system
speed, then the compensator receives no signal from the comparator, hence, it is not
included in the system. If there is a difference between the speeds (desired speed and
vehicle system speed) then comparator gives the output, which is the input to the
compensator block and thus, the compensator is included into the system and it
controls the speed of the system to desirable speed. As the vehicle system speed
becomes equal to the desired speed then there is no need of controller and thus its
output becomes zero and it is not included into the system.

Results:

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 Fig 6. Responses of a Lead Lag Compensator Design.

Conclusion:

An adaptive compensator based on Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy identification system and

control is applied to the vehicle system driven by two independent DC motors. Outputs
of each controller give the torque of the each motor. The system is designed and the
control system is tested for loading conditions and complex references. It is shown that
the response of the proposed adaptive fuzzy control system is very fast and very robust
against disturbance and change of references. The results show that the produced
control signals prevent deeps and overshoots at the direction angle and velocity of the
vehicle system when load and references are suddenly changed. Hence, it means that
the proposed identification model and control structure is working very well. Different
adaptive controls can be developed based on the requirements; Main idea was to design
the adaptive compensator for the control of velocity and direction of the vehicle
system. The control of the vehicle system is also done by lead lag compensator and the
results are efficient.

References:

1. Adaptive Control for Partially Known systems, Theory and applications by

Carlos A. Canudas De Wit
2. Adaptive Control by Karl J. Astrom and Bjorn Wittenmark
3. R.K. Miller, Automated guided vehicles and automated manufacturing
4. B.Z. Sandler, Robotics, Designing the mechanism for Automated Machinery
5. E.T. Baugartner, S.B. Skaar, An autonomous vision based mobile robot
6. Adaptive Control and its applications Wikipedia

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 7. J. Kook Lim, J. Mook Lim, K. Yoshimoto, K. Hwan Kim, T. Takahashi,
Designing guide-path networks for automated guided vehicle system
8. M.K. Guven, Fuzzy Identification and its Application to Control.
9. C.K. Li, Hongmin Chao, Y.M. Hu, A.B. Rad, Output tracking control of
mobile robots based on adaptive backstepping and high order sliding modes
10.Modern Control theory by S.M. Tripathi
11. Control systems by Nagoor Kani
12. Linear system Theory and Design by Chi Tsong Chen.

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