Application of network-based robust control to a personal pendulum vehicle

This paper discusses a comparative application of several control laws in a networked control system (NCS) environment. The application is carried out on a two-wheeled personal pendulum vehicle, which is remotely controlled through a Bluetooth wireless communication network. Three control structures are tested and compared: a local linear quadratic regulator, a standard state-feedback ℋ_∞ controller, and a network-based robust ℋ_∞ controller. The latter design deals with the effect of both, network-induced delay and data dropouts as well as model uncertainties and disturbances. These methodologies have been successfully tested by comparative simulations as well as some tests in an experimental platform.