Robust Backstepping Sensorless Speed Control of PMSM Using
Cascaded Sliding Mode and High Gain Observers
Muhammad Azhar Iqbal and Attaullah Y. Memon
National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Karachi, Pakistan
muhammad.iqbal2015@pnec.nust.edu.pk;attaullah@pnec.nust.edu.pk
Abstract— In this work we implement a Sensorless speed
control for three phase Permanent Magnet Synchronous
Motor (PMSM) using the Backstepping Control. Only stator
currents and voltages are used for feedback to design a non
linear control algorithm which tracks the speed of PMSM with
parametric uncertainties and under varying load. A
continuous sliding mode observer (SMO) based on sigmoid
function is used for rotor position estimation in cascade with
an extended high gain observer (EHGO) for robust speed
estimation that reduces chattering phenomenon and improve
accuracy. This removes the requirement of filter and phase
delay compensation. For control of speed, current tracking
backstepping controllers are designed which show excellent
tracking of reference speed and are prone to parametric
uncertainties. Finally the simulation results validate the
performance of the proposed controller and observers
Keywords—PMSM control, Backstepping, Sliding mode
observer, High Gain Observer, Sensorless
NOTATIONS
, Synchronous & Stationary frame of reference
, Inductance & Resistance of stator
, Back-EMF constant and mutual flux linkage
, Electrical & mechanical angular speed
, Stator voltage & current
, , Pole pairs, friction coefficient, inertia
Load Torque
(^), (∗) Estimated & reference quantity
I. INTRODUCTION
Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM) offers
several advantages over other motors such as high torque to
inertia ratio, excellent serviceability and durability, high
efficiency and absence of external excitation and rotor
windings. Due to these advantages these motors are being
used extensively in control systems, home appliances
printers, tape drives, cranes and elevators. The control of
such motors become highly complex due to above
mentioned advantages. Tracking problem of a Permanent
Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM) which includes speed
and position requires the information of rotor shaft position
and speed in order to control stator current vector and
achieve high performance drive. Due to high cost involved
in machine drive because of rotational transducers and shaft
sensors used for measuring position and speed of the motor,
Sensorless control of (Non-Salient-pole surface) Permanent
Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM) has gained attention
of the electric drive community.
978-1-7281-3073-6/19/$31.00 ©2019 IEEE
In this Sensorless control only stator current and voltage
will be available for feedback. Due to nonlinear and
multivariable motor dynamics such problem is rather
difficult to solve because controlled output (speed) that has
to track a reference signal of bounded nature does not match
with the measured output that is the stator currents [1]. The
load torque is usually an unknown parameter and typically
depends on the application.
A lot of research has been carried out on Sensorless Speed
Control of PMSM and is still a hot topic of research.
Different control schemes have been used for Sensorless
speed control of PMSM using Adaptive observers [1],
Sliding mode Control [2], [3], Extended Kalman Filter [4],
MRAS (Model Reference Adaptive System) [5], signal
injection methods [6]. Sliding mode observers based on
back EMF has become popular in PMSM Drive community
because of its robustness to parametric variations and
implementation aspects [2]. Due to disturbance and
parametric variations, gains of SMC are increased to ensure
robustness which causes chattering. To reduce this
phenomenon different improve SMC have been proposed
which have proven to be very robust and effective.
For non linear system of uncertain nature having matched
uncertainties backstepping control has gained importance in
recent past which is a recursive and systematic design
methodology for feedback control [7]. In backstepping
control a virtual control variable is used for making the
original high order system simple, eventually the final
controller is derived from Lyapunov Stability Theorem [8].
This work will focus on implementation of Robust
Backstepping Control of speed for PMSM based on
cascaded scheme of sliding mode & extended high gain
observer. The continuous sliding mode observer (SMO)
based on sigmoid function will be used for estimation of
rotor position and speed. In earlier work [2], the SMO based
on sigmoid function was used which provided low
chattering but its speed estimation was dependent on
sigmoid boundary layer and there was requirement of
boundary layer of variable width. For this purpose cascaded
Sliding mode & extended high gain observer are used for
estimation of speed as in[9]. The EHGO will allow us to use
high slope of sigmoid in SMO which will improve the speed
estimation and accuracy of EHGO and will be independent
of boundary layer width. This cascaded SMO-EHGO
observer scheme will no longer require any filter and phase
delay compensation.
1
Our work differs from [9] because feedback linearization for
speed tracking is replaced by a Robust Backstepping
Controller. Feedback linearization is based on exact
cancellation of non linear terms from the model but when
there comes unknown load torque disturbances and
parametric uncertainties the results of desired accuracy
cannot be obtained so easily. Robust backstepping control
shows excellent performance for unknown load torque
disturbances, parametric uncertainties, transient and steady
state [8].
This work will be organized as follow. Section I, gives a
brief introduction about Sensorless speed control of PMSM
and has focused on the major contribution of this work. The
Section II deals with the PMSM Mathematical model in
synchronous and stationary reference frame. The Section III
deals with cascaded observer design scheme of SMO and
EHGO along with its stability Analysis. In Section IV,
backstepping controller design for speed tracking is
presented along with its stability analysis. In Section V,
simulation results of proposed control algorithm is
presented.
II. MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF PMSM
Surface mount permanent magnet synchronous motor with a
sinusoidal flux density distribution & without saliency in
two different frames of references will be considered in this
work. The design of the observer is carried out in stationary
frame of reference while the controller design will be
carried out in synchronous frame of reference. The
dynamics in stationary frame of reference( )of PMSM is
given as,
= ( = )
= cos − sin − −
=− − + (1)
=− − +
=− sin
= cos
The dynamics of a PMSM in synchronous frame of
reference( ) is given by.
=
= − − (2)
=− + +
=− − − +
2
Back EMF in (1) has the information of rotor position and
speed. Therefore accurate estimation of back EMF by the
observer will give us the information of rotor position and
speed. The detailed modeling and description of both of
these models can be found in [10].The stationary and
synchronous models of the motor can be obtained from
Clarke and Park transforms. These transformations will be
used during simulations.
1 − −
= (3)
√ √
0 −
cos sin
= (4)
− sin cos
III. DESIGN OF THE OBSERVER
Two cascaded observers will be used for estimation of
speed and position of the motor. The control algorithm
block diagram is shown in fig (1).
A. Design of Continuous Sliding Mode Observer (SMO)
The Signum function has been used in conventional SMO
for estimation of rotor position and speed. Due to
discontinuity of the function chattering is included in the
estimated speed which requires a low pass filter and
additional position compensation. The Sigmoid function is
used instead of Signum function as in [2], [3]. Due to its
continuity, chattering is reduced and filtering and
compensation of position is no longer required. The
Sigmoid function is given by,
( )= −1 (5)
Where z is the sliding surface of the observer and to
regulate the slope of the function parameter a can be used.
We can define the sliding surface Z as
= − = ̇ − ̇ − (6)
The SMO with this sigmoid function is designed as
̇
=− ̇ + − ( ) (7)
̇
=− ̇ + − ( )
The ‘k’ is the gain of the SMO whose value is found by
Lyapunov Stability analysis method. With use of Sigmoid
function a significant amount of chattering is reduced and
no filter and phase delay compensation is required. If we
chose M as the Lyapunov function for the sliding surface.
= (8)
Now the trajectories must reach the surface of the sliding boundary layer, it returns either -1 or 1 & consequently (11)
vector = [0 0] for the sliding mode condition to take will become as,
place when ̇ < 0 ̇ = − ̇ − − ̇ − +( − )+
The observer will become robust towards disturbances as
the trajectories reach the sliding surface & the error is − (13)
minimized. This condition of sliding mode could be
obtained by solving For trajectories to get to the sliding surface & ̇ <0
condition to occur,

> | | (14)

It shows that if observer gain is chosen according to (14) the

sliding mode is guaranteed. It is worthwhile to note that
selection of the gain has not to be a conservative estimate
because rated maximum speed of the motor is dependent on
it. The Back-EMF of maximum value is given as

| | = | | (15)
Figure 1 Block Diagram of Control Algorithm
To determine the relationship between slope and estimation
̇ = ̇ (9) error we will consider (10) with ( ) from (5). Under
equilibrium condition,
The derivate of the surface vector Z can be obtained from
(1) and (7) as, − ̇ − + − =0 (16)

̇ − + ( − ( )
̇= There is a small error in estimation due to sigmoid boundary
(10)
̇ − + ( − layer condition = and the relationship of it with the
slope parameter is given as
From (9) we get
| |
= ln | |
(17)
̇ =− ̇ − + ̇ − + [ − ( )] (11)

From (17) we can see that when approaches to 0, slope

+ −
It may be noticed that convergence towards zero error is not
assured in above solution in finite time. The boundary layer
selected gives the order of the error.
When the reaching phase is finished, we define a set of
boundary layer where the trajectories of error will remain.
This set is {| | ≤ } , for the case of saturation. The
region for this boundary layer of sigmoid function can be
defined as
| |≤ (12)
The region in above equation is acquired by knowing that
function of exponent will decay down in five interval
time constant that will transform the function of sigmoid
from 0 to 1. When trajectories lie beyond the region of
parameter " " reaches infinity. It means that sigmoid
function changes back into Signum function. Now the
position of the motor and the estimated Back-EMF is given
as,
̂ ( )
= (18)
̂
̂
= − tan (19)
̂
The speed estimate can be obtained from differentiation of
(19) or the back-EMF approach method as in [2], [3],
̂ ̂
= ̂ cos − ̂ sin (20)
B. EHGO Design for Robust Speed Estimation
The sigmoid function used in SMO greatly decreases
chattering but it is not fully eliminated at higher speed.
From (17) we can see that at higher speed, error will be

3
higher too and trajectories of error will be switching faster
& it will spend little time inside the boundary layer.
Increasing the width of boundary layer may resolved the
problem [2] that will decrease chattering but accuracy will
be compromised.
A cascaded EGHO-SMO is presented for solving the
accuracy and chattering problem in the estimation of speed
of SMO.
EHGO observer will be used for estimation of speed of the
motor.
The EHGO is designed as follow based on reduced model
approach as in [11].
̇ = + −
∗
is the reference speed of the motor and is the
estimated speed of the motor from extended high gain
observer. For Stabilization of the speed component the error
dynamics of speed tracking can be obtained from (25) as
̇ = ̇∗− ̇ = + − (26)
Step 2: The following Lyapunov function is chosen for
stabilizing the error dynamics of speed tracking error.
= (27)
Step 3: The derivate of above mentioned Lyapunov
function can be obtained as

̇ = ̇ = . ̇ + − (28)
− + + − (21)

̇= − To allow the tracking error converges to zero, according to

Lyapunov Stability, ̇ < 0 must be satisfied
Where and are the estimated positions from EHGO
and SMO, is the disturbance estimate. + − =− >0 (29)
From the single perturbation theory [6] we define the
estimation errors as The virtual control input according to the backstepping
methodology can be takes as
= , = , = (∙) − (22)
= ( + + ) (30)
, are the errors of position, speed and
disturbance estimate. (∙ ) is the lumped uncertainty. These From Equations (28)
uncertainties are due to the parametric variation in , &
load torque of unknown value. The fast time scale error ̇ = . ̇ − (31)
dynamics are given by,
It shows that global asymptotic speed tracking is achieved
̇ =− + whenever speed error approaches zero. PMSM has strong
̇ =− + (23) characteristics of coupling. The Decoupling method is a
̇ =− + ′(∙) widely used speed control method. Q-axis current gives the
exact value of thrust force required for driving the motor.
Taking the case of no uncertainty (∙) = 0, ′ (∙) = = Taking ∗ = 0 the input becomes
0 , the observer gain may be selected such that
∗ ( )
= + + (32)
− 1 0
= − 0 1 (24) where ∗ is the q axis reference current & ∗
is the reference
− 0 0 current for d-axis.
is Hurwitz Stable. In presence of uncertainty, high gain
of the observer will suppress it. The rate of the convergence Taking as a new state variable for q axis current error for
and the robustness of the observer can be improved by tracking
decreasing . It is to be noted that for small values of the
EHGO will be subjected to measurement noise. With use of = ∗
− (33)
SMO this issue is taken care of.
IV. DESIGN OF BACKSTEPPING SPEED CONTROLLER Taking derivate of equation given above we get
Step 1: For solving the speed tracking problem, speed ∗

tracking error variable is be defined as ̇ = − (34)

∗
= − (25)

4
 ( ) is real control variable, if we define the stabilizing
̇ = − − +
control as
+ + − (35) = − + (51)

Defining the second Lyapunov function for and as Then we can obtained the following result as
= + (36) + − =− , >0 (52)

The derivate of the Lyapunov function given above is ̇ = − − (53)

obtained as
It shows that global asymptotic tracking is achieved. This
̇ = ̇ + ̇ (40) completes the objective of the backstepping control.

̇ =− ( ) V. RESULTS
+ − − +
The parameters of the PMSM which will be used for
+ + − (41) simulations are = 2.875 ℎ , = 0.00085 H , =
0.0008 kg , = 0.001 N ms , φ , = 0.175 Vs/rad , p=4,
is the actual control variable, defining the control for rated speed=3000 RPM, rated power= 1.1 KW and DC
motor necessary for stabilizing it Voltage=220V.

A. RESULTS OF SMO and EHGO

= − − − + − The Results of SMO are shown in the fig(2) and fig(3). It
contains the estimated position of the rotor & Back EMF.
+ + (42) The estimated quantities do not contain any considerable
amount of chattering. The error of rotor angle estimation of
Then we can obtained the following result as
the motor is under 0.003 rad by taking a=0.94 rad and "k"
( ) according to (14). The speed estimation of EHGO and SMO
− − + + + are shown in fig(4) and fig (5).. The parameters of the
EHGO observer are chosen as = 3, = 3, = 1 and
− =− , >0 (43) = 0.0001.
̇ =− − <0 (44)

It shows that global asymptotic tracking is achieved. We

will now design the d-axis current controller.

Taking as a state variable for error tracking of d axis

current
∗
= − (45)
Figure 2 Actual and Estimated EMF of SMO
Taking derivate of the equation given above we get
∗
̇ = − (46)

̇ = + − (47)

Defining the third Lyapunov function for , and as

= + (48)
Figure 3 Actual and Estimated Theta of SMO
The derivate of the Lyapunov function given above is
obtained as B. RESULTS OF BACKSTEPPING CONTROLLER

̇ = ̇ + All initial parameters of the controller and observer are set

̇ (49)
to zero. A reference speed of 800 RPM at time 0 sec is used
̇ =− − + + − (50) for simulation. The controller parameters are taken as

5
 = 3500, = 1500 and = 5000. This controller is
also tested by increasing values of resistance & inductance
by 50%, friction of coefficient by 100% & decreasing the
moment of inertia by 50%. A load torque of 2 N.m is
applied at 0.4 sec, it is seen that controller regains its
performance.
Figure 4 Speed Estimation of EHGO and SMO
Figure 5 Speed estimation Error
Figure 6 Speed Estimation under parametric uncertainties &
unknown load torque
Figure 7 Speed Estimation error under parametric
uncertainties & unknown load torque
VI. CONCLUSION
In this work a robust backstepping Sensorless speed control
of PMSM was presented. A cascaded EHGO-SMO
approach is adopted for improved estimation of speed of the
motor. The need of phase compensation and filtering was no
longer needed. The speed estimation from EHGO was
independent of chattering and surface of the boundary layer
selected. For speed tracking, a robust backstepping speed
controller was presented. The simulation result shows good
accuracy in steady state and is immune to uncertainties in
parameters & unknown load torque.
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