Journal of Electrical and Electronics

Engineering (JEEE)
ISSN(P): 2250-2424; ISSN(E): Applied
Vol. 6, Issue 2, Dec 2016, 11-14
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H-INFINITY AND PID CONTROLLER DESIGN FOR BALANCING

CONTROL ON A MOBILE PLATFORM
Y. J. HUANG & J. R. CHEN
Department of Electrical Engineering, Yuan Ze University, Taiwan, ROC
ABSTRACT
In this paper, an omni-directional mobile platform combined with a balancing control system is considered.
The mechanical system can be used to simulate a quarter-sized car suspension model. Besides PID control method, Hinfinity control method was proposed for the balancing control of the mechanical system. The performances of the PID
controller and the H-infinity controller were compared. Computer simulation and experimental results were carried out.
Both PID control and H-infinity control could stabilize the balancing control device rapidly. It was verified that the
proposed H-infinity control method is indeed robust and effective.
KEYWORDS: Suspension System, Balance Control, PID Control, H-Infinity Control

INTRODUCTION
Background
Linear Quadratic Gaussian (LQG) control has been well known for decades. When a complete description
of the mathematical model of the plant is available, LQG control performs very well. However, if there is a variety

Original Article

Received: Jul 11, 2016; Accepted: Oct 05, 2016; Published: Oct 17, 2016; Paper Id.: JEEEDEC20162

of uncertainties in the system, such as sensor inaccuracy, noise interference, power instability, nonlinear
characteristics of the model, or the system modelling error, LQG control could not guarantee the control
performance.
To achieve an accurate mathematical model is not simple. The controller design based on non-accurate
mathematical model is worth exploring. In 1980s, many scholars have described this design problem by using the
H-infinity norm (Zams, Doyle et al., Perng et al., Hasanzadeh et al.). Though many solutions were proposed, most
of them were complex. The famous DGKF paper was proposed later. It was proved that H-infinity design solution
can be obtained by solving the problem with two algebraic Riccati equations. Consequently, the H-infinity control
method has been developed and applied in many engineering problems.
In this paper, the H-infinity control is proposed for the balancing control of a mobile platform. The
well-known PID control is also provided. These two control methods are compared. However, it is inconsistent to
the actual model. Thus, a mathematical model using pan-style model method was firstly developed. The accuracy
of the mathematical model was verified. It will be seen that the proposed H-infinity control method is indeed
effective and good control performance is achieved successfully.

MAIN RESULTS
The balancing control device has a fixed metal structure with control processor and circuits. The fixed
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12

Y. J. Huang & J. R. Chen

metal structure involves a mobile platform in the middle. There are four wires connecting to the four corners of the device.
The Pololu MD03 motor driver is used to drive all the motors. There are eight small springs connecting to the wires as a
buffer. Two angle sensors are mounted beneath the mobile platform. The Raspberry Pi is the main controller. The wireless
LAN is used for remote operation and data collection. There are four DC motors pulling the wires. The dynamical
equations are expressed as follows

x (t ) Ax (t ) Bu (t ) d (t )

(1)

y (t ) Cx (t )

(2)

z
w G11 G12 w
G

y
u G

21 G22 u

(3)

Figure 1: Sketch of the Balancing Control on a Mobile Platform

For the H-infinity controller, the design of the weighting function is based on the specified performance. Thus,
even if it is the same plant, the weighting function may not be the same. There is no unique design procedure for the
weighting function, but the selection is based on the performance index for the plant. In this paper, the main purpose of the
control system is to receive the sensor`s signal, and drive the motor to maintain the balance of a platform. The uncertainties
and errors on the approximated model are treated as the disturbance. The controller is designed to keep the performance
index

at minimum, as shown in (4).

Amplitude(cm)

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4
0.5
0.6
Time(seconds)

0.7

0.8

0.9

Figure 2: Position Balancing Performance with PID Control Method

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H-Infinity and PID Controller Design for Balancing Control on a Mobile Platform

13

Amplitude(cm)

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4
0.5
0.6
Time(seconds)

0.7

0.8

0.9

Figure 3: Position Balancing Performance with H-Infinity Control Method

Gzw (s ) sup
w

z T (t ) z (t )dt
T

w (t ) w(t )dt

sup
w

w2

(4)

The goal of the work can be shown in Figure 1. The balancing control device is maintained while the mobile
platform is driven to climb a hill.
Figure 2 shows the step response of the PID position control. It is seen that the panel is bouncing back to the
balance position in 0.2 sec. Figure 3 shows that with H-infinity control the control performance is even better. The
response time is shorter. The trajectory is very smooth. The platform is maintained effectively.

CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, the balancing control problem on a mobile platform is proposed. Both PID control and H-infinity
control are applied and compared. The balancing control is achieved successfully. It is found that spring tension can
stabilize the platform. Though a small chattering exists, the control system possesses strong robustness.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank National Science Council, Taiwan, for supporting this work. Also, the authors
would like to thank Yuan Ze University for supporting the publication of this work.
REFERENCES
1.

Zames, G. (1981). Feedback and optimal sensitivity: Model reference transformations, multiplicative seminorms, and
approximate inverses. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 26, 301-320.

2.

Doyle, J. C., Glover, K., Khargonekar, P. P., and Francis, B. A. (1989). State-space solution to standard H2 and H1 control
problems, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 34, 831847.

3.

Perng, W., Han, K. C., Tsai, S. J., and Han, K. W. (1998). State-space solution of the standard control problem for strip
mill gauge control. IEE Proceedings - Control Theory Applications, 145(3), 291-298.

4.

Hasanzadeh, I., Alizadeh, G. and Dalayimilan, R. (2008). Design and comparison of state feedback with precompensator and
H-infinity controllers for MIMO civil aircraft model. Proceeding of the 5th ISM08, Amman, Jordan, May 27-29.

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