Sliding control design and implementation on a single-link flexible arm

Abstract

The sliding model control is known as a robust control that is able to work under the uncertainties of modeling error and the environmental disturbances. The objective of this research is to design the simple control (sliding control) algorithms for a single-link flexible arm and to study the robustness due to varying payload. A general form of physical plant in state space is formulated. To achieve a continuous control, a time-varying boundary layer was introduced into the control system neighboring the sliding surface. The computer simulation program was coded in MATLAB. A low-cost IBM-AT micro- computer was utilized to implement the sliding control on the flexible arm system.