Semester Project Controls System Lab
Instructions
You are to divide yourselves into groups of threes to complete this project. Given
below are two systems. If two or more students in a group have even digit at the
last of their registration number choose system A. If two or more students in a
group have odd digit at the last of their registration number choose system B. Each
group has to submit a report in pdf form and also present it in a zoom presentation
to the instructor. Following key points are to be included in the report and the
presentation:
1. System Analysis (pole zero location, eigen values, step response, impulse
response, tf to ss if required etc.)
2. Controller Design (PID, LQR, Lead-Lag also compare all the controller)
3. Root Locus, Bode Plot Also comment on these plots
Note: The report is to be submitted by end of 16th week and the presentation would be
conducted through MS Teams after that.
A: System Modelling for an Aircraft Pitch Controller
Physical setup and system equations
The equations governing the motion of an aircraft are a very complicated set of
six nonlinear coupled differential equations. However, under certain assumptions,
they can be decoupled and linearized into longitudinal and lateral equations.
Aircraft pitch is governed by the longitudinal dynamics. In this example we will
design an autopilot that controls the pitch of an aircraft.
The basic coordinate axes and forces acting on an aircraft are shown in the figure
given below.
We will assume that the aircraft is in steady-cruise at constant altitude and velocity;
thus, the thrust, drag, weight and lift forces balance each other in the x- and y-
directions. We will also assume that a change in pitch angle will not change the
speed of the aircraft under any circumstance (unrealistic but simplifies the problem
a bit). Under these assumptions, the longitudinal equations of motion for the
aircraft can be written as follows.
1
𝛼̇ = 𝜇Ω𝜎[−(𝐶𝐿 + 𝐶𝐷 )𝛼 + 𝑞 − (𝐶𝑤 sin 𝛾)𝜃 + 𝐶𝐿 ]
(𝜇 − 𝐶𝐿 )
𝜇Ω
𝑞̇ = [[𝐶 − 𝜂(𝐶𝐿 + 𝐶𝐷 )]𝛼 + [𝐶𝑀 + 𝜎𝐶𝑀 (1 − 𝜇𝐶𝐿 )]𝑞 + (𝜂𝐶𝑤 sin 𝛾)𝛿]
2𝑖𝑦𝑦 𝑀
𝜃̇ = Ω𝑞
For this system, the input will be the elevator deflection angle 𝛿and the output will
be the pitch angle 𝜃 of the aircraft.
Let us plug in some numerical values to simplify the modeling equations shown
above:
𝛼̇ = −0.313𝛼 + 56.7𝑞 + 0.232𝛿
𝑞̇ = −0.0139𝛼 − 0.426𝑞 + 0.0203𝛿
𝜃̇ = 56.7𝑞
These values are taken from the data from one of Boeing's commercial aircraft.
The design requirements are the following.
▪ Overshoot less than 10%
▪ Rise time less than 2 seconds
▪ Settling time less than 10 seconds
▪ Steady-state error less than 2%
B: System Modelling for an Automotive Suspension System
Physical setup
Designing an automotive suspension system is an interesting and challenging
control problem. When the suspension system is designed, a 1/4 model (one of the
four wheels) is used to simplify the problem to a 1-D multiple spring-damper
system. A diagram of this system is shown below. This model is for an active
suspension system where an actuator is included that is able to generate the
control force U to control the motion of the bus body.
System parameters
(M1) 1/4 bus body mass 2500 kg
(M2) suspension mass 320 kg
(K1) spring constant of suspension system 80,000 N/m
(K2) spring constant of wheel and tire 500,000 N/m
(b1) damping constant of suspension system 350 N.s/m
(b2) damping constant of wheel and tire 15,020 N.s/m
(U) control force
Equations of motion
From the picture above and Newton's law, we can obtain the dynamic equations
as the following:
𝑀1 𝑋1̈ = −𝑏1(𝑋1̇ − 𝑋2̇ ) − 𝐾1 (𝑋1 − 𝑋2 ) + 𝑈
𝑀2 𝑋2̈ = 𝑏1 (𝑋1̇ − 𝑋2̇ ) + 𝐾1 (𝑋1 − 𝑋2 ) + 𝑏2 (𝑊̇ − 𝑋̇2 ) + 𝐾2 (𝑊 − 𝑋2 ) − 𝑈
Assume that all of the initial conditions are zero, so that these equations represent
the situation where the vehicle wheel goes up a bump. The dynamic equations
above can be expressed in the form of transfer functions by taking the Laplace
Transform. The specific derivation from the above equations to the transfer
functions G1(s) and G2(s) is shown below where each transfer function has an
output of, X1-X2, and inputs of U and W, respectively.
(𝑀1 𝑠 2 + 𝑏1 𝑠 + 𝐾1 )𝑋1 (𝑠) − (𝑏1 𝑠 + 𝐾1 )𝑋2 (𝑠) = 𝑈(𝑠)
−(𝑏1 𝑠 + 𝐾1 )𝑋1 (𝑠) + (𝑀2𝑠 2 + (𝑏1 + 𝑏2 )𝑠 + (𝐾1 + 𝐾2 ))𝑋2 (𝑠)
= (𝑏2 𝑠 + 𝐾2 )𝑊 (𝑠) − 𝑈(𝑠)
(𝑀1𝑠 2 + 𝑏1 𝑠 + 𝐾1 ) −(𝑏1 𝑠 + 𝐾1 ) 𝑋1 (𝑠)
[ ] [ ]
−(𝑏1 𝑠 + 𝐾1 ) (𝑀2 𝑠 2 + (𝑏1 + 𝑏2 )𝑠 + (𝐾1 + 𝐾2 )) 𝑋2 (𝑠)
𝑈(𝑠)
=[ ]
(𝑏2 𝑠 + 𝐾2 )𝑊 (𝑠) − 𝑈(𝑠)
(𝑀1𝑠 2 + 𝑏1 𝑠 + 𝐾1 ) −(𝑏1𝑠 + 𝐾1 )
𝐴=[ ]
−(𝑏1 𝑠 + 𝐾1 ) (𝑀2 𝑠 2 + (𝑏1 + 𝑏2 )𝑠 + (𝐾1 + 𝐾2 ))
(𝑀1𝑠 2 + 𝑏1 𝑠 + 𝐾1 ) −(𝑏1𝑠 + 𝐾1 )
Δ = 𝑑𝑒𝑡 [ ]
−(𝑏1 𝑠 + 𝐾1 ) (𝑀2 𝑠 2 + (𝑏1 + 𝑏2 )𝑠 + (𝐾1 + 𝐾2 ))
Δ = (𝑀1 𝑠 2 + 𝑏1 𝑠 + 𝐾1 ). (𝑀2 𝑠 2 + (𝑏1 + 𝑏2 )𝑠 + (𝐾1 + 𝐾2 ))
− (𝑏1 𝑠 + 𝐾1 ). (𝑏1 𝑠 + 𝐾1 )
Find the inverse of matrix A and then multiply with inputs U(s) and W(s) on the
righthand side as follows:
𝑋1 (𝑠)
[ ]
𝑋2 (𝑠)
1 (𝑀2 𝑠 2 + (𝑏1 + 𝑏2 )𝑠 + (𝐾1 + 𝐾2 )) (𝑏1 𝑠 + 𝐾1 ) 𝑈(𝑠)
= [ ] [ ]
Δ (𝑏1 𝑠 + 𝐾1 ) (𝑀1 𝑠 2 + 𝑏1𝑠 + 𝐾1 ) (𝑏2 𝑠 + 𝐾2 )𝑊 (𝑠) − 𝑈(𝑠)
When we want to consider the control input U(s) only, we set W(s) = 0. Thus, we
get the transfer function G1(s) as in the following:
𝑋1 (𝑠) − 𝑋2 (𝑠) (𝑀1 + 𝑀2)𝑠 2 + 𝑏2 𝑠 + 𝐾2
𝐺1(𝑠) = =
𝑈(𝑠) Δ
When we want to consider the disturbance input W(s) only, we set U(s) = 0. Thus,
we get the transfer function G2(s) as in the following:
𝑋1 (𝑠) − 𝑋2 (𝑠) −𝑀1 𝑏2 𝑠 3 − 𝑀1𝐾2 𝑠 2
𝐺2 (𝑠) = =
𝑊(𝑠) Δ
A good bus suspension system should have satisfactory road holding ability, while
still providing comfort when riding over bumps and holes in the road. When the
bus is experiencing any road disturbance (i.e. potholes, cracks, and uneven
pavement), the bus body should not have large oscillations, and the oscillations
should dissipate quickly. Since the distance X1-W is very difficult to measure, and
the deformation of the tire (X2-W) is negligible, we will use the distance X1-X2
instead of X1-W as the output in our problem. Keep in mind that this is an
approximation.
The design requirements are the following.
▪ Overshoot less than 5%
▪ Settling time less than 5 seconds
▪ For a 12-cm step, the bus body will oscillate within a range of +/- 6 mm
