Development and implementation of self-tuning tracking controller for DC motors

A self-tuning control strategy for tracking applications of DC drives is proposed. By this technique, the rotor speed and/or position of a DC motor can follow any arbitrarily selected track (or trajectory). The developed control strategy is adaptive and robust, i.e. insensitive to system variations, such as load changes, noise, and disturbances. This results in what is known as a high-performance drive system, which is required in applications such as robotics, actuation, and manipulation. The developed drive system was implemented and tested in the laboratory. The system was examined under various uncertainties such as load variations, noisy measurements, and field disturbances. All lab tests confirm the accuracy and the robustness of the proposed tracking controller. It is shown how such a powerful controller can be implemented by off-the-shelf hardware and software instead of by specially designed items that are often time consuming and costly