The University of Melbourne

Semester 2 Assessment, 2000

Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering

436-405 ADVANCED CONTROL SYSTEMS

Examination duration: 3 hours

Reading time: 15 minutes
This paper has: 7 pages

Authorised materials:
Electronic calculators and drawing instruments may be used.

Instructions to invigilators:
Candidates should initially be provided with two 14-page script books.
Graph paper will be available if required.

Instructions to students:
Attempt a total of six questions: three must be selected from the four in Part A, and three
from the four in Part B. All questions are of equal value.
Write your answers to Parts A and B in separate script books.

Library:
This paper is to be reproduced and lodged with the Baillieu Library.

Page 1 of 7
436-405 Advanced Control Systems

Part A
Question A1
(a) Describe the process by which disturbances of known form, but unknown magnitude,
can be estimated and compensated for in a state-space control system design.
(b) A pendulum with a torque motor at its hinge is described by
é x1 (t ) ù é 0 1ù é x1 (t ) ù é0ù é 0ù
ê x (t )ú = ê − 1 0ú ê x (t )ú + ê1úu (t ) + ê1 ú w
ë 2 û ë ûë 2 û ë û ë û
é x1 (t ) ù
y (t ) = [1 0]ê ú +b
ë x2 (t )û
[ ]
where [x1 x 2 ] = θ θ , θ being the angle of the pendulum from vertical, u is a control
torque, w is a torque bias, and b is a measurement bias. The output y is sampled with a
sample period T = 0.1 s, and the total torque (u + w) is applied through a zero-order
hold. With this discretisation, the system and input matrices become
é 0.9950 0.0998ù
Φ = e AT = ê ú,
ë− 0.0998 0.9950û
T é0.0050ù
Γ = ò e Aξ dξ ⋅ B = ê ú
0
ë0.0998û
(i) With no measurement bias (b = 0), augment the discrete system model so that the
torque bias is an element of the state vector. Is this system observable?
(ii) With no torque bias (w = 0), augment the discrete system model so that the
measurement bias is an element of the state vector. Is this system observable?

Question A2
Consider the system
x1 (t ) = x2 (t )
x 2 (t ) = −2 sin x1 (t ) − 3 x2 (t ) + u (t )
(a) Determine the equilibrium points for the system.
(b) Obtain the linearised equations about each equilibrium point.
(c) Classify the equilibrium points and sketch representative phase portraits for critical
points of the linearised system.
(d) Sketch a phase portrait for the nonlinear system.

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 436-405 Advanced Control Systems

Question A3
Consider a double-integrator plant:
Y ( s) 1
=
U ( s) s 2
(a) Sketch a symmetric root locus (SRL) for this plant. Explain how this SRL could be
used in the design of a feedback regulator. What is the theoretical basis for such uses?
(b) A controller canonical realisation of the plant is
é x1 (t ) ù é0 0ù é x1 (t ) ù é1ù
ê x (t )ú = ê1 0ú ê x (t )ú + ê0ú u (t )
ë 2 û ë ûë 2 û ë û
é x1 (t ) ù
y (t ) = [0 1]ê ú
ë x2 (t )û
Show that the optimal control law which will minimise the performance index

ò [ρy ]
∞
2
J= 1
2 0 (t ) + u 2 (t ) dt

is
é x (t ) ù
u (t ) = − é 2 ρ ρ ùê 1 ú
êë úû ë x2 (t )û

Hint: The performance index

ò [x ]
∞
T
J= 1
2 0 Qx + u T Ru dt

is minimised by the control law u = −Kx , where K = R −1B T P and P is a symmetric,

positive-definite solution of the continuous algebraic Riccati equation
AT P + PA − PBR −1BT P + Q = 0
For this simple plant it is straightforward to manually solve the matrix Riccati equation
for P. The matrix
ép p2 ù
P=ê 1
ë p2 p3 úû

is positive-definite if and only if p1 > 0 and p1 p3 − p 22 > 0.

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436-405 Advanced Control Systems

Question A4
The system shown in figure 1 contains a backlash nonlinearity. The half-width of the
backlash is a = 1, and the slope K = 1. The sinusoidal-input describing function for this
nonlinearity is
K 4K
N = [1 − f (2α − 1)] − j α(1 − α ), ( α < 1)
2 π
= 0, ( α ≥ 1)
where α = a/A, A being the amplitude of the input sinusoid, and f(•) is the describing function
of the unit saturation. The variations with α of the magnitude and phase of this (complex)
describing function are plotted figure 2.
The frequency response of the linear plant, G(jω), is plotted in Bode form in figure 3, and in
Nichols form in figure 4.
Investigate the existence of limit cycle oscillations of the closed-loop system, and estimate
the amplitude and frequency of any ‘stable’ limit cycles.

r=0 e u 4 y
1 1
s(s+1)(s+2)

Backlash G(s)

Figure 1

Describing function for backlash

0

−10

−20
Magnitude (dB), Phase (deg)

−30

−40

magnitude
−50 phase

−60

−70

−80

−90
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
α = a/A
Figure 2

Page 4 of 7
 436-405 Advanced Control Systems

Frequency response G(jω)

50
40
30
20
Magnitude
10
0
−10
−20
−30
−40
−50
−2 −1 0 1
10 10 10 10

−90
−110
−130
Phase (deg)

−150
−170
−190
−210
−230
−250
−270
−2 −1 0 1
10 10 10 10
Frequency (rad/s)
Figure 3

Frequency response G(jω)

40

30

20
Magnitude (dB)

10

−10

−20
−180 −170 −160 −150 −140 −130 −120 −110 −100 −90
Phase (deg)
Figure 4

Page 5 of 7
436-405 Advanced Control Systems

Part B

Fuzzy, Neural Net, Genetic Algorithm Questions

Page 6 of 7