International Journal of Dynamics and Control

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40435-022-00947-z

A new intelligent adaptation mechanism of MRAS based on a genetic

algorithm applied to speed sensorless direct torque control
for induction motor
Najib El Ouanjli1 · Said Mahfoud2 · M. S. Bhaskar3 · Soukaina El Daoudi4 · Aziz Derouich2 ·
Mohammed El Mahfoud5

Received: 13 December 2021 / Revised: 20 March 2022 / Accepted: 21 March 2022

© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2022

Abstract
Efficient sensorless approaches for controlled electrical motors reside in their simplicity and robustness, even with a wide range
of operating speeds such as the model reference adaptive system. However, the linear tuning method of the PI regulator in the
adaptation mechanism of the mentioned observer degrades the motor performance in the presence of external disturbances and
parameter variations. This paper proposes an optimized genetic algorithm to automatically tune the PI regulator in the model
reference adaptive system based on several execution sequences. A comparative research study between the conventional model
reference adaptive system and the same observer based on a genetic algorithm was performed using the MATLAB/SIMULINK
simulation platform. The analysis of this study was executed under various operating conditions. The results prove that this
strategy can enhance speed and tracking performance while guaranteeing excellent behavior of overshoot and rejection time.

Keywords Sensorless speed · Genetic algorithm · MRAS · Induction motor · DTC

List of symbols
B Najib El Ouanjli (vα „ vβ ) Components of voltage in (α, β) reference frame
najib.elouanjli@usmba.ac.ma (iα , iβ ) Components of current in (α, β) reference frame
Said Mahfoud (ψ α , ψ β ) Components of flux in (α, β) reference frame
said.mahfoud@usmba.ac.ma va , vb , vc Phase simple voltages
M. S. Bhaskar S1, S2, S3 Switching states
sagar25.mahajan@gmail.com Rr , Rs Rotor and stator resistances
Soukaina El Daoudi Lm, L s , L r Mutual, stator and rotor inductances
Soukainaeldaoudi@gamil.com p Pole pair number
Aziz Derouich ωr Rotor pulsations
aziz.derouich@usmba.ac.ma σ Leakage coefficient
Mohammed El Mahfoud ω, Ω Mechanical pulsation and rotation speed of the
mohammed.elmahfoud@usmba.ac.ma machine
1 LMIET, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Hassan First Tr, T em Load and electromagnetic torque
University, Settat, Morocco V dc DC bus voltage
2 LSTI, Higher School of Technology, Sidi Mohamed Ben f, J Viscous friction and total inertia
Abdellah University, Fez, Morocco θs Stator flux position
3 Renewable Energy Lab, College of Engineering, Prince K i , Kp Integral and proportional gains of PI controller
Sultan University, Riyadh 11586, Saudi Arabia λα , λβ Flux error state components
4 LACEM, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Sultan Moulay
Slimane University, Beni Mellal, Morocco
5 Faculty of Sciences Dhar El Mahraz, LIMAS, SidiMohamed
Ben Abdellah University, Fez, Morocco

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 N. El Ouanjli et al.

Abbreviations achieve a similar decoupling between the magnetic flux and

electromagnetic of a DC machine with separate excitation.
DTC Direct torque control This technique provides good- quality dynamic performance.
DFIM Doubly fed induction machine However, the implementation has shown that this control
FLC Fuzzy logic controller technique has a high sensitivity to parametric variations [7],
FOC Field oriented control particularly the variation of rotor resistance, which is directly
IM Induction machine linked to the flux angle orientation.
EM Electrical machine Therefore, direct torque control (DTC) was initially devel-
2L-VSI Two-level voltage source inverter oped by Takahashi [6] to overcome specific disadvantages
MRAS Reference adaptive system encountered with the FOC of induction machines. This type
LO Luenberger observer of control technique considers the converter associated with
EKF Extended Kalman filter the machine as a set where the control vector consists of
DSP Digital signal processing switching states. Its main advantages are the rapidity of
DCM Direct calculation method dynamic torque response and the low dependence on machine
PI Integral–proportional controller parameters [1]. However, two significant drawbacks arise. On
SMC Sliding mode controller the one hand, the determination of switching states is based
ANN Artificial neural network on the trend information of flux and torque evolution from
FL Fuzzy logic nonlinear elements of the hysteresis type. On the other hand,
GWO Grey wolf optimization as the duration of switching operations is variable, this leads
EP Evolutionary programming to torque and flux oscillations [4].
PSO Particle swarm optimization In addition, these control techniques require the use of
CPSO Complex-order particle swarm optimization a speed sensor to satisfy the decoupling process. The speed
ULCO Unequal limit cuckoo optimization sensor increases the cost of installation and weakens the drive
system. Therefore, it is necessary to eliminate and use estima-
tion approaches to improve the control robustness and reduce
its cost [8, 9]. This observation gives the idea of the substi-
tution of the physical sensor by another algorithmic type, an
1 Introduction estimator or observer, where the speed and/or position of the
rotor are no longer directly measured but calculated from the
The induction machine (IM) is appreciated in the industrial electrical parameters of the machine.
field due to its advantages in construction simplicity, con- Several methods have been proposed in the literature that
version reliability of electromechanical energy, robustness, deals with speed sensorless control of the induction machine.
reduced cost, and low maintenance [1]. However, its multi- Among these methods, we will cite the adaptive Luenberger
variate model is nonlinear and strongly coupled in terms of observer (LO), the extended Kalman filter (EKF), and the
which parameters vary over time. Furthermore, some vari- adaptive system based on the reference model [10–14]. The
ables are not accessible to the measurement, requiring the use EKF is among the first observers to experience great success
of state observers and reducing the machine control robust- due to its simplicity of implementation, even with complex
ness [2]. nonlinear systems [10]. It aims to analytically converge the
Despite these difficulties, the presence of induction motors states of the system by a stochastic approximation to an
in variable speed drives has continued to grow for several operation point. However, its major drawback is the lack of
years. Today, it is considered in several applications such as complete proof of its convergence [11]. Another estimation
electric vehicles (EV), elevators, pumping, ventilation, etc. strategy is the direct calculation method (DCM), which is
[3, 4]. This was possible, firstly, through the development of based on the machine model and allows estimating the speed
static power converters associated with control systems and, by knowing the value of the rotor flux, despite its good per-
secondly, through the availability of faster calculation meth- formance, its simplicity and reduced computation time, this
ods such as DSP (digital signal processing), which allowed structure suffers from the dependence on the rotor parame-
the easy installation of complex control algorithms. ters, which degrades the overall performance of the control
Numerous electrically motorized applications require the [12]. Another way to estimate is the Luenberger observer
use of variable speed drives with appropriate control systems (LO) [13]. It allows one to reconstruct the incommensurate
to provide wide operating ranges and achieve good dynamic state using the error correction of the measured state. How-
performance. Vector control and direct torque control tech- ever, as already mentioned, the major drawbacks of these
niques are commonly used in most applications [5, 6]. The methods are their poor performance at low speeds and their
field oriented control (FOC) was presented by Blaschke [5] to sensitivity to parametric variations. Therefore, due to their

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A new intelligent adaptation mechanism of MRAS based on a genetic algorithm applied to speed…

simplicity, methods based on the MRAS technique are still regulator to solve the optimization problem in servo motor
relevant. They are the most popular schemes employed due to operation. When compared to GA, EP, and PSO techniques,
their simple implementation and lower computational effort the authors observed that GA optimization had intriguing
[14]. results in terms of system execution time, overshoot, and
The MRAS technique is based on an adaptive system using reaction time.
two flux models. The first, which does not introduce speed, This paper is devoted to the presentation of a new method
is the reference model. The second, which is a function of of speed estimation from an MRAS based on the genetic
the speed, is called the adjustable model. The error produced algorithm (GA). Our approach is to replace the PI controller
by the offset between the outputs of the two models drives of the conventional MRAS with an adaptation mechanism
an adaptation algorithm that generates the estimated speed. optimized by GA, which increases performance, guaran-
However, it has a major drawback: its low performance at low tees robustness against parametric variations, and ensures
speed and its sensitivity to the variation of the rotor resistance observer stability for the entire operating range of the induc-
due to the use of a traditional PID controller. It is well known tion motor. Moreover, the results of the simulations obtained
that the latter is not very efficient when the system is strongly are analyzed and compared with the results of classical
disturbed, and its gain values depend on motor parameters, MRAS to show the effectiveness of our proposal.
which are not constant [15]. The article is presented in the following sections: Sect. 2 is
Much effort has been focused on improving the per- dedicated to the development of the induction motor model.
formance of MRAS. An SMC-MRAS speed estimator is Section 3 presents an analytical study of the DTC control.
proposed in [16, 17]. This scheme uses an adaptation algo- Sections 4 and 5 are devoted to the development and design
rithm based on the sliding mode controller (SMC), which of the MRAS estimator based on the genetic algorithm.
offers good steady-state and transient performances. But, Section 6 focuses on the implementation of the proposed con-
the use of the signum function in SMC causes a chatter- trol method on MATLAB/Simulink and the interpretation of
ing phenomenon. In [18–20], new MRAS estimators based the simulation results. Finally, a conclusion and a proposal
on fuzzy logic (FL-MRAS) and artificial neural networks for future research work are adopted for Sect. 7.
(ANN-MRAS) are presented to overcome the problems asso-
ciated with the classical MRAS method. However, these
solutions present the problem of instability at some operat- 2 System modeling
ing points. In addition, a dummy resistance-based R-MRAS
scheme for doubly fed induction motor (DFIM) controlled by 2.1 Mathematical modeling of induction motor
the torque predictive model is presented in [21], which shows
excellent speed tracking and stability performance. In [22], The mathematical model of the induction motor can be writ-
Korzonek et al. present a comprehensive review of speed ten in (α,β) reference frame as follows [4]:
estimation methods for IM based on MRAS techniques. The
⎡ ⎤ ⎡  ⎤⎡ ⎤
comparative analysis of these speed estimators is done from i sα ωr i sα
−ωr
1
− σ1 1
τs + 1
τr σ L s τr σ Ls
⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥⎢ ⎥
the following points of view: the derivation of the speed adap- d⎢ i ⎥ ⎢
⎢ sβ ⎥  ⎢ ωr − σ1 τ1s + 1
τr − σωLr s 1
σ L s τr
⎥ ⎢ i sβ ⎥
⎥.⎢ ⎥
tation mechanism based on Lyapunov theory, the sensitivity dt ⎣ ψsα ⎥
⎢
⎦ ⎣
⎢
−Rs 0 0 0
⎥ ⎢ψ ⎥
⎦ ⎣ sα ⎦
of the MRAS estimators to changes in the parameters of the ψsβ 0 −Rs 0 0 ψsβ
⎡ ⎤
induction machine and the stability problems. 1
σ Ls 0

Many optimization algorithms, such as genetic algorithm ⎢ 1 ⎥ Vsα
⎢ 0 σ Ls ⎥
+⎢ ⎥. (1)
(GA) [23], particle swarm optimization (PSO) [24, 25], ⎣ 1 0 ⎦ Vsβ
grey wolf optimization (GWO) [26], evolutionary program- 0 1

ming (EP) [25], complex-order particle swarm optimization

with
(CPSO) [27], and unequal limit cuckoo optimization (ULCO)
[28], are used in the technical literature. Some researchers, M2 Rs Rr
such as those of Joyashree Das, Diptanu Das, and K. Das σ 1− τs  τr  (2)
Ls Lr Ls Lr
Joyashree [26], Motlagh and Madadi [29], and Meshram and
Kanojiya [24], have applied these algorithms which allow The electromagnetic torque and the mechanical equation
the enhancement of PID efficiency in dynamical systems. are given by:
They created a PID regulator for an adopted second-order DC
motor process, which they optimized using GWO and PSO. Tem  p(ψsα i sα − ψsβ i sβ ) (3)
In [23], the PID regulator on a robotic manipulator is dis-
cussed by using a multi-objective non-dominated sorting GA. d
Rey and Krohling [25] propose a GA-based PID controller J. + f .  Tem − Tr (4)
dt

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 N. El Ouanjli et al.

Fig. 1 General structure of 2L-VSI

Fig. 2 Voltage vectors delivered by 2L-VSI

Table 1 Voltage table

vi S  (S b S a S c ) v  vα + vβ
3 Direct torque control for 2L-VSI
v0 (000) 0
3.1 DTC principle
v1 (100) 2/3.V dc
√
v2 (110) 1/3V dc + j 3/3 V dc
√ DTC controls the stator flux and electromagnetic torque by
v3 (010) − 1/3V dc + j 3/3 V dc using hysteresis controllers [1]. With the output of these con-
v4 (011) − 2/3V dc trollers, the switching states of 2L-VSI can be selected from a
√
v5 (001) − 1/3V dc − j 3/3 V dc control table. For DTC, the rotor speed is assumed to be high
√
v6 (101) 1/3V dc − j 3/3 V dc to neglect the voltage drop caused by the stator resistance
v7 (111) 0 in the stator voltage equation [30, 31]. This approximation
shows that the voltage vector applied to the inverter can
modify the stator flux. The general scheme of DTC is given
in Fig. 3. At each sampling period Ts, the electromagnetic
2.2 Two-level voltage source inverter torque and the flux are estimated from the measured stator
currents and the knowledge of the imposed voltage vector
The model of the two-level voltage source inverter (2L-VSI) [4].
is composed of six switches and controlled by analog values
[30]. The structure of 2L-VSI is illustrated in Fig. 1. The 3.2 Torque and flux estimation
six electronic switches represented, which are supposed to
be perfect, can be transistors (bipolar, IGBT, etc.) associated It is worthy to note that all calculations are carried out in the
with diodes from head to tail. reference (α, β) for estimating the stator flux ψ s and torque
It is well known that a 2L-VSI produces eight voltage electromagnetic T em . The components of the flux are given
vectors vi  {v0 ··· v7 }. The voltage vectors are presented in according (α, β) components of stator current is and stator
(α, β) stationary reference. The switching states S  (S a S b voltage vs as follows:
S c ) of the inverter for three phases (a, b, c) are shown in Table
t
1.
ψ̂sα  (vsα − Rs .i sα ).dt (6)
The voltage vectors delivered by 2L-VSI are shown in
Fig. 2. 0
The mathematical model of 2L-VSI is given by: t

ψ̂sβ  vsβ − Rs .i sβ .dt (7)
0
⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤⎡ ⎤
va 2 −1 −1 Sa The electromagnetic torque and stator flux estimation is
⎢ ⎥ Vdc ⎢ ⎥⎢ ⎥
v
⎣ b⎦  .⎣ −1 2 −1 .
⎦ ⎣ Sb ⎦ (5) given by the following expressions:
3
vc −1 −1 2 Sc 
ψ̂s  ψ̂sα
2 + ψ̂ 2
sβ (8)

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Fig. 3 Block diagram of speed sensorless direct torque control of IM

in both directions of rotation, producing either positive or

negative torque. Figure 4b illustrates a three-level hysteresis
torque controller.

3.4 Switching table

The error between the estimated and reference torque is trans-

mitted to a three-level hysteresis comparator. In contrast, the
error between the estimated and reference stator flux is fed
Fig. 4 Hysteresis controllers for a stator flux and b electromagnetic to a two-level hysteresis regulator. The voltage vectors of the
torque inverter can be selected from a switching table (Table 2), con-
sidering the output states of the two hysteresis comparators
  and the stator flux position.
ψ̂sβ
θs  ar ctg (9)
ψ̂sα
4 Model reference adaptive system
Tem  p.(ψ̂sα .i sβ − ψ̂sβ .i sα ) (10) estimator
The voltage vector components (vsα and vsβ ) are estimated In most industrial applications, closed loop feedback infor-
from the switching states (S a , S b , S c ) given by the switching mation is mandatory. This information decreases while using
table, so: mechanical speed sensors. However, using these tools leads
to additional cost, congestion, degraded reliability, sensitivity
1
vsα  .VDC .(2Sa − Sb − Sc ) (11) to mechanical noise, and unsuitability for hostile environ-
3
ments. Therefore, numerous research approaches have been
1 dedicated to sensorless electric drives to eliminate mechani-
vsβ  √ .VDC .(Sb − Sc ) (12)
3 cal tools. Among the different algorithmic speed estimators,
those based on the concept of MRAS have proven their
effectiveness through their irrelative simplicity and low com-
3.3 Hysteresis controllers putation time [32]. In this estimator, the structure adjusts
itself to the error described as the difference between the
The stator flux is maintained in a circular crown; this func- adjustable and the reference models. Figure 5 presents the
tion is performed by a hysteresis controller with two levels, MRAS algorithm which implies using the stator flux vector
as presented in Fig. 4a. In addition, a three-level hysteresis components (ψ αs , ψ βs ) as reference model depending on the
controller controls the electromagnetic torque of the motor accessible voltages (vαs , vβs ) and currents (iαs , iβs ):

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 N. El Ouanjli et al.

Table 2 Switching table

H ψs H Tem Sector 1 Sector 2 Sector 3 Sector 4 Sector 5 Sector 6

1 1 v2 v3 v4 v5 v6 v1
1 0 v7 v0 v7 v0 v7 v0
1 −1 v6 v1 v2 v3 v4 v5
0 1 v3 v4 v5 v6 v1 v2
0 0 v0 v7 v0 v7 v0 v7
0 −1 v5 v6 v1 v2 v3 v4

Fig. 5 Model reference adaptive

system estimator based on stator
parameters

5 Reference model
⎧
⎪ Lr Ls
Based on the mathematical design of the electrical machine ⎪
⎨ ψ̃αs  (σ L s ω̂r i βs + (Rr + σ L r s)i αs − ω̂r ψ̂βs )
Rr + L r s Lr
in (α, β) frame, the reference model which is represented by
⎪
⎪ Lr Ls
the stator flux vector components (ψ αs , ψ βs ) as a function ⎩ ψ̃βs  (−σ L s ω̂r i αs + (Rr + σ L r s)i βs + ω̂r ψ̂αs )
Rr + L r s Lr
of the accessible stator quantities is introduced as follows: (16)
⎧ 
⎪ The estimated speed is generated by an adaptation mech-
⎪
⎨ ψ̂αs  (vαs − Rs i αs ) anism which is controlled depending on the error between
 (13)
⎪
⎪  the reference and the adjustable states:
⎩ ψ̂βs  vβs − Rs i βs

λα  ψ̂αs − ψ̃αs
(17)
λβ  ψ̂βs − ψ̃βs
5.1 Adjustable model: The error component of the stator flux based on the feed-
back matrix [B] and the input matrix [A] is given then by the
According to the stationary frame (α, β), the stator axes are state representation below:
fixed (θ s  0 therefore ωs  0) and the rotor axes move at
ωr , hence the following mathematical model: [λ̇]  [A][λ] + [B] (18)
⎧ dψαr
⎪
⎨ 0  Rr i αr + + ωr ψβr where:
dt (14)
⎪


⎩ 0  R i + dψβr − ω ψ λ̇α − LRrr −ωr
r βr r αr
dt [λ̇]  ; [A]  ; [B]
  λ̇β ωr − LRrr
ψαr  L r i αr + L m i αs ψαs  L s i αs + L m i αr

(15) −ψ̃βs σ L s i βs 
ψβr  L r i βr + L m i βs ψβs  L s i βs + L m i βr  ωr − ω̂r
ψ̃βs −σ L s i αs (19)

Substituting Eq. (15) in Eq. (14), the adjustable model The system’s stability is adjusted by the adjustment mech-
equations could be written as: anism while fulfilling the convergence of the estimated value

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Fig. 6 Optimization of the PI

controller parameters of MRAS
estimator by the GA

toward the required one. Therefore, it can be verified that the
forward transfer matrix [A] is strictly positive real and, conse-
quently, the asymptotic hyper stability condition is achieved
[14]:
K p and K i are positive gains. Substituting Eq. (21) with
results obtained from Eq. (24), the estimated speed will there-
fore be as follows:
 
ω̂r  K p ψ̂βs ψ̃αs − ψ̂βs ψ̃αs − (i αs λβs − i βs λαs )σ L s
  τ
t 
[λ]T [B] dt ≥ −χ 2 (for all t ≥ 0) (20) +K i ψ̂βs ψ̃αs − ψ̂βs ψ̃αs − (i αs λβs − i βs λαs )σ L s dτ
0 0
(25)
Based on the Popov criterion above, the convergence is
insured by admitting a finite negative limit of the internal
product variables in the feedback loop. To satisfy this condi- 6 Genetic algorithm-based MRAS speed
tion, the adaptation mechanism is proposed: estimator

 τ 6.1 PI parameters optimized by genetic algorithm

ω̂r  δ1 (λ) + δ2 (λ) dτ (21) for MRAS estimator
0
In recent years, GA has been used to solve optimization prob-
Employing the expression of ω̃r , Popov’s criterion lems, such as the design of communication networks, the
becomes: optimization of database queries, and the control of tech-
   
t τ
[λ]T [ψ̃s ] ωr − δ1 (λ) − δ2 (λ)dτ dt ≥ −χ 2
0 0
The concept below is used as a solution to Eq. (22) inequal-
ity:
nical and physical systems. Also, GAs have become very
(22) robust optimization tools for optimizing and solving prob-
lems related to technical sciences [33].
GA is the most appropriate chromosome search pro-
cess that has built the population in the space of potential
solutions. Research such as this tempts us to balance two
opposing objectives: to find the best solutions and to widen
 t   the research space.
d f (t) 1
κ f (t)dt ≥ − κ f 2 (0), κ> 0 (23) In the MRAS estimator for sensorless DTC, the adaptation
0 dt 2
mechanism is done by a PI controller, which has undesirable
performance for nonlinear systems. With each parametric
Employing Eq. (23), the Popov inequality is fulfilled by
variation in the system, the MRAS estimator will be per-
the functions presented below:
turbed by this variation, giving a poor speed estimate. The
   optimization of K P and K i by the GA allows the MRAS esti-
P1  K p ψ̃αs − σ L s i αs λβ − ψ̃βs − σ L s i βs λα mator to adapt to each parametric variation, increasing the
   robustness of the sensorless DTC control. Figure 6 shows the
P2  K i ψ̃αs − σ L s i αs λβ − ψ̃βs − σ L s i βs λα reduced structure of the GA optimization method.
(24)

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Genetic algorithms belong to evolutionary algorithms that
use approaches inspired by evolutionary biologies, such
as selection, crossover, and mutation [34]. The execution
sequences of the algorithm are described in Fig. 7, which rep-
resents a flowchart that respects the evolution laws of genetic
algorithms.
The steps for the execution of the GA are given as
follows:
where e(t) is the error function.
The PI controller is occupied with this work in order to
minimize the error function e(t) in the MRAS estimator,
which reduces the value of the specified objective functions,
thus minimizing the equivalent value expressed by the chro-
mosomes, and the chromosomes will be formed as a result
of this minimization.

Algorithm: Genetic Algorithm

Begin
Step 1.Initialize the GA parameters (It, Pop, Pc, Gamma, Pm, Sigma, nVar, VarMax, VarMin).
Step 2.Generate the parameters of the PI randomly.
Step 3.Execute DTC control.
Step 4.Calculate and evaluate the value of the Fitness function.
Step 5. Execute the selection step.
Step 6. Execute the crossover step.
Step 7. Execute the mutation step.
Step 8. Generate the optimum MRAS values of Kp and Ki.
Step 9. Repeat step 3 until the maximum number of iterations has been reached.
Step 10. Print the optimum solutions.
End

6.2 GA operators and parameters
The literature attests that there is not a theoretical method
which makes it possible to determine the value of each param-
eter, but several researchers proposed intervals which can
include the optimal values for each parameter based on sev-
eral algorithm tests until having the best values that can make
the algorithm converge toward its optimum [35–37].
The operation of the genetic algorithm is based on oper-
ators and parameters that ensure its execution and are
summarized as follows:
1
Fitness_Value  (27)
ISE
6.2.2 Initialization of populations
A population is a group of individuals who each represent a
solution. Several studies have been carried out to choose the
population size [36]. Grefenstette confirms that the optimal
population size should be between 10 and 160 [37]. Odeyato
proposed a population size of between 100 and 400 [38].

6.2.1 Fitness 6.2.3 Operators

The crucial step for optimization algorithms is to select the
appropriate objective function to determine the suitability
of each chromosome; several studies have been conducted
demonstrating the efficiency of the integral square error (ISE)
function in terms of performance compared to other functions
[35].
The first step executed in the GA is the selection. That
means the choice of each person in the population in pro-
portion to their fitness to create a new population. There are
three selection methods: the universal stochastic sampling
method (USS), the tournament selection method (TS), and
the stochastic sampling with replacement selection method
(SSRS) (or roulette wheel). This last is very popular because
t of its high performance, confirmed by [39].
I SE  e(t)2 dt (26) After choosing the best chromosomes in the selection step,
0
the crossover is executed to exchange the parent genes, giving

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Table 3 Parameters of induction motor

Variable Value

Nominal power Pm  1.5 kW

Stator and rotor resistances Rs  4.85 ; Rr  3.805 
Maximum of mutual inductance Lm  0.258 H
Self-inductances L s  0.274 H; L r  0.274 H
Viscous frictions f  0.00114 kg.m2 /s
Total inertia J  0.031 kg.m2
Pair pole number P2

Table 4 PI parameters

Kp Ki

MRAS with PI 90 7
MRAS with GA-PI 51.548 5.647

Table 5 PI ranges

K Pmax K Pmin K Imax K Imin

Values 60 0 10 0

Finally, a mutation step is added to increase the probability

of having the best chromosomes. The principal work is to
randomly replace one or some genes of the chromosomes.
This probability must be chosen between [0.001, 0.01] [40],
and the probability Pm value is chosen as 0.001.

7 Simulation results

The behavior of the sensorless DTC structure based on

Fig. 7 Flowchart of the GA-MRAS
children who carry combined proprieties the bad genes of
one parent will be replaced by the good genes of another,
with a probability of creating sons. This probability must be
chosen in the interval [0.6, 0.99] [39]; the probability value
of crossover operator is selected as 0.9 because present the
optimal probability founded by many experiments test.
MRAS estimation methods (conventional MRAS and GA-
MRAS) applied to a 1.5 kW machine is simulated in the
Matlab/Simulink environment. The simulation is performed
under the following conditions: the flux hysteresis controller
band is fixed at ± 0.001Nm, and that of the torque at ±
0.01Wb. The estimated torque is recovered at the output
of a speed controller. The simulation is carried out with a
sampling period equal to T s  10 μs. The same tests were per-
formed for the different adaptation mechanisms of the MRAS
estimator to compare the results obtained. The parameters of
the IM used are given in Table 3.
The GA’s parameters (K Pmin , K Pmax , K Imin , K Imax , Pop,
and niter ) must be set to extremely large values: (K Pmax 
K Imax  100, K Pmin  K Imin  0, Pop  100, niter  100)
to increase the chances of getting the optimum K P , and K I ,
values; however, in this instance, the process only converges

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 N. El Ouanjli et al.

Fig. 8 Simulation results of conventional MRAS-based speed sensorless DTC of an IM: a rotor speed b Electromagnetic torque c Stator flux

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Fig. 8 continued
after a set amount of time, which might hours. Since the
process converges toward such large values, the ranges of
variability of parameters can indeed be lowered to values
near to the optimum after the last simulation while beginning
from the optimal values. Following that, depending on these
optimal values, the number of repetitions is reduced as the
system converges toward such an optimum value, and the
population size is reduced.
The values of the PI controller parameters of MRAS esti-
mators are shown in Table 4, and the values of PI ranges are
shown in Table 5.
Figure 8 gathers the simulation results obtained by the
speed sensorless DTC based on the conventional MRAS.
With a reference speed at the initial instant of 78.5 rad/s,
an instantaneous variation of the speed is applied at 1 s with
a value that is equal to 157 rad /s to see the behavior of the
system at medium and high speeds. A load of 10 N.m is
applied at t  2 s to test the decoupling between torque and
stator flux.
Figure 8a shows the actual and estimated speed responses
tending toward the reference set point. The steady-state of
these speeds is perfect; while the dynamic regime is slower
at startup with a response time of 276 s, it has a fairly large
overshoot of 7.58 rad/s and 7.61 rad/s for set point changes of
78.5 rad/s and 157 rad/s, respectively. The rotational speed is
very sensitive to the load variation, because at the time of load
application there is a relative drop in speed of 14.91 rad/s.
The rejection time is equal to 301 ms.
The electromagnetic torque is shown in Fig. 8b following
its reference value; it has ripples of about 0.71 N.m due to
the operation of the hysteresis controller and the estimated
torque. At the introduction of the load, the torque presents
an overshoot of 1.937 N.m and then settles after a time equal
to 285 ms.
Figure 8c shows the trajectory of the stator flux vector
amplitude in the (α, β) plane, which is circular. It can be
observed that the flux is maintained at the limit of the varia-
tion bands. The flux amplitude has a ripple of 4.8 mWb. As
long as the amplitude is large, there will be more ripples in
the torque and vice versa. Moreover, the load variation does
not affect the flux.
From the results found for this test (Fig. 9), we can notice
that the GA-MRAS estimator of DTC offers better results
compared to that obtained by the classical MRAS estimator.
Figure 9a shows the speed responses obtained by the pro-
posed control scheme. When the motor rotates at speeds of
78.5 rad/s and 175 rad/s with an initial load of 0 Nm and 10
Nm after 2 s, the response of the estimated speed is simi-
lar to that measured by following the reference speed in the
high and medium speeds. It presents a fast transient regime
without overshoot. The disturbance rejection is fast, and the
undershoot is very small. This translates into a reduction in
response time and rejection time with rates of 88.07% and
32.68%, respectively, and elimination of overshoot compared
to the conventional MRAS of DTC.
Figure 9b illustrates the torque response of the motor.
It is good to see that the torque response obtained by the
proposed approach presents fewer ripples than the con-
ventional MRAS-based DTC. The ripple band is equal to
0.6 N.m, which translates into an improvement rate of 15.5%.
This result is automatically reflected in the stability of the
machine’s operation, including less vibration and less noise.
A circular graph that gathers the flux components in the (α,
β) stationary plane is shown in Fig. 9c. The circular trajec-
tory of the stator flux path is well respected which shows that
the evolution of the flux modulus is constant at the reference
value of 1.02Wb. The decoupling is well assured between
the flux and the torque of the machine. Moreover, this figure
shows a significant minimization of flux ripples by the pro-
posed scheme at a rate of 18.75%.
The critical analysis of the different simulation results con-
firms that the use of the genetic algorithm as an adaptation
mechanism of MRAS ensures good behavior. Indeed, the
shape of the estimated speed has fewer ripples, good track-
ing during transient conditions, and less sensitivity to load
disturbances. Table 6 illustrates the global performance and
improvement attributed to the new GA-MRAS-based DTC.
The histograms (a) and (b) in Fig. 10 describe the speed
response established by each control scheme. From these
histograms, we can say that the fastest control is the one
with the shortest response time, which is presented by the
proposed GA-MRAS-based DTC control.
123
 N. El Ouanjli et al.

Fig. 9 Simulation results of GA-MRAS-based speed sensorless DTC of an IM: a rotor speed b Electromagnetic torque c Stator flux

123
A new intelligent adaptation mechanism of MRAS based on a genetic algorithm applied to speed…

our speed estimator is robust because it is insensitive to load

torque perturbations.
Based on these comparisons, it is reasonable to conclude
that the MRAS estimator of DTC adapted by the genetic
algorithm is one of the most robust and appropriate controls
to obtain better performances.

8 Conclusion

The paper presents a new adaptation mechanism of MRAS

Fig. 9 continued
To have an indicative evaluation of the main results
obtained by the proposed control scheme, a second table
is used to compare the method used with other recently
published strategies (Table 7). The proposed solution is com-
pared to the extended Kalman filter-based speed sensorless
control and the fuzzy logic-based MRAS estimator published
in [11, 18]. In that case, our proposal shows a faster response
and a significant minimization of the electromagnetic torque
ripples. Thus, the SMC observer of speed sensorless con-
trol developed in [41] presents higher torque ripples than
our solution due to the chattering phenomenon. Moreover,
based on the genetic algorithm applied to speed sensor-
less direct torque control for induction motors. The GA is
introduced to the MRAS speed estimator to optimize and
generate at each sampling period the K p and K i parame-
ters of the PI controller used in MRAS. This allows for a
better adaptation of the studied system. This structure is sim-
ulated in the MATLAB/Simulink environment, then analyzed
and compared with the classical MRAS estimation method.
The GA-MRAS-based speed sensorless DTC strategy proved
many improvements in performance, such as speed overshoot
and rejection time, flux and torque ripples. The following
points summarize the enhancements that are being made to
the IM performances:
• Removed the speed overshoot.
• Improvement of the response time by 55.07%.
• Reduction of the speed undershoots with an improvement
of 54.53%.
• Minimization of the torque ripples by 15.5% and the flux
ripples by 18.75%.
• Future work will be devoted to implementing this proposed
method in the dSPACE DS1104 board and improving

Table 6 Performance
comparison between GA-MRAS Performances Characteristics MRAS-based GA-MRAS-based Improvement
and MRAS of the DTC DTC DTC (%)

Rotation speed Response time 78.5 rad/s 276 124 55.07

Ω (ms) 157 rad/s 179 103 42.46
Rejection time (ms) 301 202.64 32.68
Overshoot 78.5 rad/s 7.58 0 100
(rad/s) 157 rad/s 7.61 0 100
Undershoot (rad/s) 14.91 6.78 54.53
Ripples (rad/s) 0.814 0.144 82.31
Torque T em Response time (ms) 285 144.89 49.16
Rejection time (ms) 251 0 100
Undershoot (N.m) 1.115 0 100
Overshoot (N.m) 1.937 1.77 8.62
Ripples (N.m) 0.71 0.6 15.5
Stator flux ψ s Ripples (Wb) 0.0048 0.0039 18.75

123
 N. El Ouanjli et al.

Fig. 10 Speed response for the two control schemes

Table 7 Comparison between our proposal and some controls strategy published recently

Publication Approaches Response time (s) Overshoot Speed ripples Torque ripples Robustness
reference (rad/s) (Rad/s) (N.m) under load
variations

[11] EKF-based speed 1.2 4.67 0.84 High Medium

sensorless control
[18] Fuzzy logic-based 0.9 18 _ High High
MRAS speed
observer
Studied in this Conventional 0.276 7.58 0.814 Medium Low
article MRAS-based speed
sensorless control
[41] SMC observer of 0.17 16.2 1.43 Low Medium
speed sensorless
control
Proposal GA-MRAS-based 0.124 0 0.144 Low Good
technique speed sensorless
DTC

speed sensorless DTC control using advanced techniques Declarations

such as ant colony optimization and artificial neural net-
works to advance technical and scientific research. Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no competing
interests.

Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the anonymous

reviewers for their helpful and constructive comments that would greatly Appendix
contribute in improving the final version of the paper. They would also
like to thank the Editors for their generous comments and support.
See Table 8.
Funding The work is not supported by any funding agency. This is the
authors own research work.

Availability of data and materials Data sharing is not applicable to this

article as no datasets were generated or analyzed during the current
study.

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A new intelligent adaptation mechanism of MRAS based on a genetic algorithm applied to speed…
Table 8 Parameters of the genetic algorithm
Description Type/Value
Population size 20
Maximum iteration 50
Mutation probability 0.001
Crossover probability 0.9
Sigma 0.1
Gamma 0.1
Beta 1 Industr Electron 53(1):146–153
Selection Uniform
Coding Binary
Mutation Uniform
Crossover Roulette wheel selection
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