Design of optimized fuzzy cascade controllers by means of Hierarchical Fair Competition-based Genetic Algorithms

Abstract

In this study, we present a design of an optimized fuzzy cascade controller based on Hierarchical Fair Competition-based Genetic Algorithms (HFCGA) for a rotary inverted pendulum system. In this system, one controls the movement of a pendulum through the adjustment of a rotating arm. The objective is to control the position of the rotating arm and to make the pendulum maintain the unstable equilibrium point at vertical position. To control the system, we design a fuzzy cascade controller scheme which consists of two fuzzy controllers arrange in a cascaded topology. The parameters of the controller are optimized by means of the HFCGA algorithm. The fuzzy cascade scheme comprises two controllers located in two loops. An inner loop controller governs the position of the rotating arm while an outer controller modifies a set point of the inner controller implied by the changes of the angle of pendulum. The HFCGA being a computationally effective scheme of the Parallel Genetic Algorithm (PGA) has been developed to eliminate an effect of premature convergence encountered in Serial Genetic Algorithms (SGA). It has emerged as an effective optimization vehicle to deal with very large search spaces. A comparative analysis involving computing simulations and practical experiment demonstrates that the proposed HFCGA based fuzzy cascade controller comes with superb performance in comparison with the conventional Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) controller as well as HFCGA-based PD cascade controller.