Performance improvement of Pendulum Cart System using fractional controller

Abstract

This paper deals with performance improvement of Pendulum Cart System (PCS) using fractional controller. A simpler control structure for stabilization of PCS is proposed. This control structure consists of two Fractional Order Proportional Integral Derivative (FOPID) controllers which are designed on the basis of Fractional Order Calculus (FOC). One controls cart's position while the other one controls pendulum's angle. FOC can provide higher performance extension for FOPID controllers. However, designing of FOPID controllers is hard as these controllers have two more parameters i.e., derivative and integral order to design in comparison with traditional Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) controllers. For designing of both FOPID controllers we have used a new toolbox of MATLAB i.e., Fractional Order Modeling and Control (FOMCON) which provides a set of tools for fractional-order control. Proper parameter tuning of FOPID controllers has been done by trial and error approach. Performance of the PCS with successfully designed FOPID controllers is analyzed by means of transients. It is also compared with performance of the conventional PID controller for PCS. Comparison ensures the improvement with FOPID controller.