Real-time Nonlinear Model Predictive Path-Following Control of a Laboratory Tower Crane

A path-following controller is developed and applied to a laboratory tower crane. The control task is to move a load along a predefined geometric path. The time evolution along the path is not fixed but left as a degree of freedom to be determined by the controller. In order to be able to account for system constraints, a model predictive control scheme is adopted with special focus on real-time feasibility with small sampling times. The resulting controller is applied to a laboratory-scale tower crane and validated through simulation studies and measurement results.