Implementation of an industrial controller for a ball-on-wheel system

Many industrial systems and processes are non-linear in nature. However, for purposes of control systems design, they are usually treated as linear systems within a defined operating range. The process of modeling and linearization is complex, costly and often inaccurate due to uncertainties in system parameters. In this paper, a laboratory Ball on Wheel system is implemented, modeled and linearized. Thereafter, a traditional PID controller is designed and performance analyzed. Intelligent control, utilizing Neural Networks (NN) is also considered for control of the non-linear system. The control systems are further implemented within an industrial controller, allowing further performance analysis.